With every day, it did get easier. I admit to taking a lot of me time those first few weeks. I made my only job breast-feeding. Everyone else took care of baby's other needs.
My son did lose some weight. At birth, he was 8 pounds and 5 ounces and I think he got as low as 7 pounds and 8 ounces. But by his 3-week appointment, he was over 9 pounds!
He also had some mild newborn jaundice. It required no treatment beyond making sure he ate and spent some time in the sunlight.
Jaundice is tricky though. It makes baby tired and not really interested in eating. But, eating would make them feel better!
I used cloth diapers with my son and that was helpful. I could do a diaper count much easier than with a disposable.
I came down with mastitis at nine days postpartum. In the early days, mastitis is trickier to diagnose than later on because it can feel like engorgement. But, my pain was localized on one breast and it really, really hurt to the touch. I also had a red spot on my breast, like a hot spot. If I had caught it a few hours earlier, that would have been good. As soon as I started antibiotics, I felt so much better within 12 hours. Nursing often, especially on the affected breast, is key. Water and rest, too. I had mastitis again that first year. Since I knew what it felt like I got help sooner.
Around six or seven weeks, everything just totally clicked. We finally got all of our kinks worked out. One thing that really helped was learning to nurse lying down. At night, my husband would bring our son to me to nurse and he also took him back and changed his diaper. So, I just stayed in bed and got the job done. So much easier! I also got into a groove during the day. I found that reading a good book only during feedings helped me look forward to them and be less impatient during them.
It really wasn't a smooth road. But I don't think that any part of having a newborn, especially a first, is easy. I think that breast-feeding has its own share of problems (which one to use, when to switch, gas, choosing bottles, obsessing about quantities...).
Get help, get support, and seek out good information and just stick with it. It does get easier.
Oh, and I breast-fed for 19 months. My son self-weaned.
