Nishmat's Women’s Health and HalachaIn memory of Chaya Mirel bat R' Avraham

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
  • donate
Menu
Side Bar

Husband’s support during labor

8 March, 2006
Question:

Shalom. My wife is due in a couple of weeks and very strongly desires for me to be in the delivery room and support her in whatever way I can. Concerning physical touch (e.g., holding her hand), is there any halachic opinion that allows for this during delivery? At what point is there no heter for physical touch in this context? I understand that you cannot provide me with an official opinion. My wife and I just desire to understand and become aware of the various halachic opinions available re: this matter. Thank you for your time.


Answer:

We appreciate and encourage your need to support your wife during childbirth, and through the earlier stages you can aid her in any way as long as she does not experience uterine bleeding.

Even if your wife does not bleed during labor, she will become a niddah when her cervix is dilated during the final stages of labor. She is not halachically required to undergo an internal examination to determine the degree of dilation. From the point she becomes a niddah, you are subject to all the the harchakot.

If a woman’s cervix is dilated by a few centimeters early in labor (or earlier in her pregnancy), but she has not had any bleeding, she does not yet become a niddah.

When you are no longer able to have physical contact, we are certain that the encouragement you can offer verbally and just be being there in the room with her will be extremely significant. Be sure you are standing in a place where you cannot view the actual delivery, near the head of the bed or behind a curtain.

If the wife is in great emotional distress during contractions, the husband may assist in any way necessary, since that is considered pikuach nefesh (a life saving action).

Please see our articles on Childbirth for a more detailed discussion of this topic.

We wish your wife a healthy and easy delivery, Besha’ah Tovah

This internet service does not preclude, override or replace the psak of any rabbinical authority. It is the responsibility of the questioner to inform us of any previous consultation or ruling. As even slight variation in circumstances may have Halachic consequences, views expressed concerning one case may not be applied to other, seemingly similar cases. All health and health-related information contained within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for consulting with your health care professional. The advice is intended to offer a basis for individuals to discuss their medical condition with their health care provider but not individual advice. Although every effort is made to ensure that the material within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is accurate and timely, it is provided for the convenience of the Web site user but should not be considered official. Advice for actual medical practice should be obtained from a licensed health care professional. For further questions or comments:  The Nishmat Women's Health and Halacha Site is a public service of Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women. This project and others like it are made possible by contributions from people like you. If you have benefited from the service, and wish to enable us to help others, click here to donate.
Users of Internet filtering services: This site discusses sensitive subjects that some services filter without visual indication. A page that appears 100% complete might actually be missing critical Jewish-law or medical information. To ensure that you view the pages accurately, ask the filtering service to whitelist all pages under yoatzot.org.

Accessibility Toolbar