[mturmon]

Best observation I heard relating to this is:

As a new parent you go to class for the delivery experience, an experience which lasts for a day or so and is well-supported while it happens by all kinds of staff. You also get a couple of classes on breastfeeding, an experience which lasts for months and is very poorly supported while it happens.

The emphasis is off -- as noted by the OP when it observes that we know far more about cow milk than breast milk.

And of course, there has been a lot of back-and-forth (google term: Mommy wars) on practices and expectations around breastfeeding.