Dear Stephanie,  language is powerful. Powerful in how it shapes and
dictates social reality and therefore acts as a means of social control. The
language used reflects and betrays the often unwitting perspective of the
speaker.  Pateman states in "Language, truth and politics"(1975) "it is
rare, if not impossible, for communication to serve only one function, and
one is usually confronted with situations of domination and subordination".
Your putting the word allow in inverted commmas indicates the recognition of
this power dynamic and paradox inherent in institutions and, sadly, usually
masked by the "helper" (read controller) status of unconscious (the
unawakened) health professionals.  The trick here is to assist women/couples
to clearly identify what it is they want and to ask for it. As is often
noted, action from the so called consumer of health services gets results.
our role as passionate supporters of breastfeeding/human rights/justice and
equality (guess i see them as on a par :-) is to provide the evidence, the
information and the environment which enables people to make truly informed
choices.

Warm regards, Carolyn