Breastfeeding releases a certain hormone in the brain of the baby, which in turn does give a child a very strong bond with the mother stemming from the association of the mother with this incredible hormone and feeling calm and loved. It's basically natural conditioning as opposed to pavlovs artificial conditioning

it's not a bond with the mother specifically. It's a bond with the source of food.

(which is true for adults too, to have nice feeling for people who satisfy our needs)

Skin to skin contact also plays a role, I actually went to school and got taught this stuff as an adult. There are a lot of psychological and physiological factors that come into play to combine into this

and yet, kids suck on plastic and random people and even pillows (saw that once)

It's called the oral phase. Children explore the world with their mouth, especially when teething they start biting. The mannequin in this pic has tits so it is only natural to try for a child without shame (which develops at around 4 and up

the kid didn't bite on the arm or neck of the mannequin. It bit the tit, which means the kid recognized the shape and thought 'food!' (there's a couple of other pics online where the kid literally pushed fabric off the tit of the mannequin on purpose, to get to the tit, so it's not like the kid is "exploring the world". It's about food. The same way (many) adults look at the outside of a McDonalnds building and think 'Food!' Or a better comparison would brobably be a plastic bottle for kids who used a bottle. It's just a shape they recognize and make a connection with food.

A child that can stand and walk is no longer breastfeeding (or at least shouldn't be) this particular case might be different, but I was taught this in school and I was talking in general...

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