Among the normative verses of the Qur'an dealing with family life and women's legal rights in marriage, this verse refers to the recommended term of two years for breastfeeding. It is a recommendation rather than a legal requirement upon the woman, but it also protects the woman's right to sustenance and support during this period as an obligation upon the husband or his heirs, in case of his death. The text imposes no compulsion upon the woman to breastfeed her child, but allows that she may require the husband to pay compensation to a wet nurse, or to wean the infant by mutual consent between husband and wife before the end of two years. The verse is from the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, which Muslims believe was revealed to Prophet Muhammad during the 23-year period prior to 632 CE, when he died. The translation, or explanation of the meaning, is by Marmaduke William Pickthall (1875-1936), the first native speaker of English to translate the Qur'an.

The Phoenician terracotta vessel features a human face, the nose forming a narrow spout. The bottle is an archaeological find from Carthage, near modern Tunis, dated to 399 BCE-200 BCE. Archaeologists believe this object was a baby bottle. It could have been used to feed diluted wine with honey or other sweet liquid such as juice, milk, or thin porridge, cooked cereal made from ground grain. Such vessels, called guttus, were placed with Greek infant burials of the same period, placed in proximity to the infant's head. Many such examples have been found in at Greek and Phoenician sites, in various forms, such as a dog bottle dated to c.300 BCE-64 BCE from Sousse, Tunisia, and a pomegranate-shaped Greek bottle from 399 BCE-200 BCE found in Italy. The whimsical shapes and decorations are appealing to children's appetites. These bottles may also have aided the process of weaning the child from breast milk.