A newborn weighs a few pounds and is totally dependent on its mother. But it shouldn’t stay like that!
There was no soy alternative or infant formula in Hannah’s day. The newborn for the first three years or so was dependent on the mother for milk supply. Then it was weaned little by little to use food other than breast milk. This was an important milestone in personal development from baby to young child, so much so that a celebration was often held to commemorate the occasion (see Gen 21:8). The Hebrew word for wean (Heb, gamal) is variously translated as “to deal fully with,” “to recompense,” “to ripen,” “to reward,” or “to bestow.” The process was not thought of as a disconnection from the mother, but a blessed advancement in the relationship. Certainly this is the way it’s used in a spiritual sense in Scripture. Isaiah asks, “Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts” (Isa 28:9, KJV). This links with Hebrews 5:12-14, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Any passage can be milk or meat; it all depends on who does the chewing. Milk, to put it delicately, has been through someone else’s digestive system. The mother or cow or goat has done the work, and baby gets the blessing. But to develop discernment, we must be “rightly dividing the word of truth” ourselves (2 Tim 2:15; see 1 Cor 3:2). So don’t stay in the nursery; let’s get chewing!