Why does it hurt to take out a tampon?

OK, so this is like my 4th period, and it was a gorgeous day, so I wanted to swim. My mom bought me a box of tampons, the tampax lites, which are like the smallest ones. I put one in like for 5 hours or so, and it went in fine. But then when I took it out, it hurt badly. I used another one after, thinking it was just the first one that hurt, but I just took it out before bed and it almost reduced me to tears. I know I should leave it in longer, but it was right before bed. Is there any way to make it less painful?