Is a husband obligated to provide his wife with cleaning help after birth?[1]
Some Poskim[2] rule that a husband is obligated to hire a worker to help his wife after she gives birth in order so she can properly recover. [This ruling was given when it was customary for women after birth not to get up from her bed for four weeks after birth. However, in today’s times when women are already up and about several days after birth, one can argue that there is no longer an obligation to do so. Nonetheless, certainly if the wife is too weak due to the birth to be able to properly function and needs bedrest to recover, then the husband would need to hire help just as he would be required to do if she were sick. Based on this concept, many Rabbanim rule that a husband may be obligated to pay for his wife to stay in an afterbirth care center if she makes the request and is in need of it to recuperate from the birth.[3]]
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[1] See Nishmas Avraham E.H. 3 p. 144
[2] Beis Shmuel E.H. 79:1; Beir Heiytiv E.H. 70:1; Teshuvas Rashal 45; Kneses Hagedola 70:2; Yad Aaron 70:1;
[3] Yad Yehuda E.H. 79:1; Avnei Derech 5:76
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