Asalaamu Alaykum
Ramadan Mubarak! There is another opinion regarding fasting and BF/Pregnancy. A minority of scholars consider it to be the case that if a woman misses fasts due to pregnancy and BF she only has to pay fidyah and does not have to make up the fast. This is because pregnancy and breastfeeding can be for some women like a long term illness such as women who have many children and are pregnant and BF for decades thus rendering it virtually impossible for them to make the fasts up in their lifetime. Even if a woman has only one child though the scholars that hold this opinion, believe that even a woman with one child can just pay fidyah as the dispensation is in general. I personally follow this view as it makes a lot of sense to me, I think it is interesting that the whole 'if you fear for yourself' or 'if you fear for your child' criteria are actually made by the fuqaha and not derived from the original texts from Qur'an or ahadith.
SILSILAH FATAAWA JEDDAH’ CASSETTE SERIES (no.25)
OF SHAIKH AL-ALBAANEE -rahimahullaah:
Questioner : “I read in a book that if the pregnant women or the breastfeeding
women fear for themselves, or for their child, that they should
abstain from fasting, and should feed a needy person in place of each day,
and that it is not obligatory upon them to make up the days. So how
correct is this saying? We hope that you can clarify.”
Shaikh al-Albaanee: “Making up the days is not obligatory upon them, but
rather kaffaarah (compensation) of feeding a needy person for each day is
obligatory. This is the correct answer.
As for the aforementioned condition, i.e. that if the pregnant woman or a
breast-feeding woman fear for themselves or for their child, then this
condition is just an ijtihaad (personal deduction) from some of the
scholars, and it should not be put as a duty upon the pregnant woman or
the breast-feeding woman, because the Prophet ( صلى الله عليه و سلم ) said:
<< Allaah -the Exalted and Most High- has remitted fasting from the
pregnant woman and the breast-feeding woman.>>1
Then Ibn `Abbaas said in explanation of His Saying -He the Most High:
[[Sooratul-Baqarah (2):184]]
[[Meaning: So whoever amongst you is ill, or upon a journey, then let him
fast the same number of other days; and as for those of you who can fast
with difficulty, then they have the option of feeding a needy person in
place of each day.]]
Ibn `Abbaas -radiyallaahu `anhu- said: “Upon the pregnant woman and
the breast-feeding woman is to feed (the needy).”
Meaning the aforementioned condition is not to be found, i.e. that the
pregnant woman and the breast-feeding woman have to fear for
themselves or for their child.”
****
1 Hasan Saheeh: Saheeh Sunan Abee Daawood (no.2408).