Ahmad ibn Naqeeb Al-Misri, states in his well-known book, The Reliance of the Traveler: “A dead premature baby, born before six full months, is treated as an adult if it gives a cry (sneeze, or cough) or shows movement at birth. Here, the phrase ‘treated as an adult’ means it is obligatory to wash, shroud, pray over, and bury the baby, since its life and death is verified. If it does not give a cry or show movement at birth, then:
1- If it has reached four months in the womb, the time at which the spirit is breathed into it, then it should be washed before burial but must not be offered funeral prayer;
2- but if it has not reached four months, the only thing to do here is to bury it, nothing more.”