Maybe I'm the oddball here, but I found a lot of the article to be what I'm going through now.

I had the hardest time waiting for my milk to come in. It was very frustrating and discouraging. I pumped little to nothing for a few days until I finally started to have a little luck...and the nurses in the NICU did tell me that colostrum was simply not enough and they did supplement with formula.

Now, I do think nipple confusion is very real. They didn't even give me the opportunity to try feeding from the breast until about 3 days before Natalie left the hospital so when I did, she had a very hard time latching on. (to her defense she is 6 weeks premature and her reflexes weren't quite developed)
When I was finally encouraged to feed from the breast, most of the nurses there really were kind of lactation nazis about it. I secretly tried the nipple shield not because I have inverted nipples, but because they don't seem to get hard enough to allow her to latch.. They worked but it was still excruciatingly painful.
I agree that breastfeeding is very painful and does make your boobs rock hard. I leak all the time (but bra pads and showers seem to solve that problem..I don't smell like sour milk lol) My nipples were chapped and cracked and sore, but I wouldn't even consider chapstick...that's weird.

Because Natalie is having such a rough time, i've gone to pumping and feeding her breast milk through the bottle. I find this to be just as if not more time consuming than regular breastfeeding AND formula feeding. I think with a baby in the house you're going to lose a lot of sleep. period.

I don't credit pumping/breastfeeding to my weight loss. I have lost a good bit of weight since I gave birth (I can almost wear my pre-maternity jeans again! hurray!) but I think that has to do more with being responsible before and after birth

so beside the more odd stuff like cabbage leaves and chapstick, i did think this article had some truth to it.

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