Is there an obligation to bury an infant who, Heaven forbid, was stillborn (meaning, who died at birth) or who died within a month of his or her birth?
The Gemara in Masechet Pesachim (9) tells the story of a woman who delivered a stillborn child and cast the child into a pit. The Hagahot Maimoni (glosses on the Rambam's "Mishneh Torah" by Rabbi Meir Ha'kohen, Germany, 13th century) deduces from this episode that a stillborn child does not, in fact, require burial. The Magen Avraham (classic commentary on the Shulchan Aruch by Rabbi Avraham Gombiner, 1633-1683), however, dismisses this view, arguing that to the contrary, the woman cast the infant into a pit to bury him/her. In the Magen Avraham's view, then, the obligation of burial applies even to newborns and even stillborns.
Rabbi Pinchasi, in his work, "Chayim Va'chesed," rules in accordance with the Magen Avraham's position, that one must bury an infant who dies within a month of birth or who was a stillborn, particularly, he adds, if the pregnancy went full-term. But even if the infant was born prematurely, the child must be buried in full compliance with all the standard laws of burial.
In summary, the obligation to bury a person who has passed on applies even to infants who died within a month after birth and even to stillborns, regardless of whether this occurred after a full-term pregnancy or in the earlier stages of pregnancy.
