You know you bring up an interesting point. In communities, let’s say like the Amish, nursing a baby is part of the culture. Most likely, however, you would never see an Amish woman nursing her baby in a restaurant though. But in our world, nursing is not necessarily the general rule. There are still plenty of women who bottle feed their babies. So, it always seemed to me to not be so much a standard practice, but a statement of some kind. Because of this I , too, get the feeling there is a lot of attention seeking going on.
There are so many ways to nurse discreetly that to show your breast, you have to be trying to! I am completely in favor of breastfeeding, but not displaying breasts. Even away from home. I nursed in the Baltimore aquarium, the Smithsonian, the grocery store....No one ever knew!