986 – Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared, “Breastfeeding counts only when it fortifies the bone and causes the flesh to grow.” Reported by Abū Dāwūd.⦗1⦘

Hadith grading
The hadith is weak. Abū Dāwūd recorded it, and al-Bayhaqī likewise related it through al-Dāraqutnī from al-Naḍr b. Shumayl, from Sulaymān b. al-Mughīra, from Abū Mūsā al-Hilālī, from his father, from a son of ʿAbd Allah b. Masʿūd, from his father Ibn Masʿūd. The chain is weak because it contains a succession of unidentified transmitters.

Glossary
• anshaza al-ʿaẓm: from the root indicating elevation; here it means that the bones develop and rise firmly within the body.
• anbata al-laḥm: for the flesh to sprout, grow, and increase.

Points derived from the hadiths
1 – Divine wisdom has assigned the newborn the right to two complete years of suckling. Allah says: “Mothers shall breastfeed their children for two full years—for those who wish to complete the term of suckling” (Al-Baqarah 2:233).
Sayyid Qutb comments: “Allah makes it—meaning He establishes it as a right—for the child that his mother nurse him for two complete years, for He, glorified be He, knows that this period is optimal for the child’s physical and psychological well-being: ‘for those who wish to complete the term of suckling.’”