So just how common is this situation?

Dunno, but we breastfed both ours, back in the late 70s/early 80s, without the merest regard for what anyone might have thought, without the slightest thought about whether we were being "political". As I recall, it was one hundred percent about feeding the nippers in question when they needed feeding. I can scarcely believe the sheer twattery I'm reading here about what a bloody complicated issue it's supposed to be, what an "emotional battlefield" it is or how militant women ostentatiously whip their nipple into a baby's gob in order to make a political point. Bugger off!