This is appropriate, since each mother-infant pair is unique. What works for one pair will not necessarily work for another. One of the most important tasks of parenting is learning to observe your baby's cues, observe your own cues, and to blend these observations together to determine the best course of action. I'm not surprised about your experience with your child. On the other hand, I have frequently seen situations where the baby nurses every 45 minutes and either the mom, or the baby, or both are unhappy and exhausted.
Babies like to suck when they are hungry, but also like to suck for oral stimulation and comfort.
Sometimes babies are fed when they want to suck, but are not really hungry. Since they don't eat much when they are offered food at this time, they get hungry soon thereafter. They cry because they are hungry, so mom offers food again, but because the baby is tired by this time, he or she doesn't eat much before falling into a light sleep. Mom gets up to feed the baby, but her body hasn't had the time to make a sufficient supply of milk. Now, even though the baby wants to eat enough to get full, he or she can't.