We have 2 major fasts a year (around 25 hours, dusk - night) - on Yom Kippur (the day of atonement, which is in about 2 weeks, eek!, and the 9th of Av. These are the only 2 days were everyone has to fast, unless it is life or death not to (not, "i have a headache kind of thing". Pregnant and bfeeding women do also.
We have about 8 other minor fasts a year, which go from daybreak until night. These ones pregnant and bfeeding women can be excluded from (i haven't done one since beginning 2005, my aim is not to until menopause )
As much as fasting is exhausting and hard at times, i enjoy it when i'm not around the kids and i have time to think about why i'm doing it. I find it very refreshing and cleansing in a way.
My tips for fasting are:
1) stop drinking caffine etc at least 3 days beforehand.. the biggest cause of headaches are always caffine withdrawl
2) the day before just keep drinking water.. very important tha you are hydrated enough during the fast
3) complex carbs and protein are the way to go for your pre-fast meal.
4) break your fast on something light, like a cup of tea and some cake.. then after an hour when your stomach has adjusted have a proper meal.
5) have a sleep during the day, makes it easier.
6) make dinner in advance, - it's hard enough fasting and feeding kids, let alone cooking all day long.
I think for muslim women they can choose if they want to, and i know at least 2 who did. They only did it in the middle trimester and if they felt unwell on it they did take some water. For most of my muslim friends it depends what season Ramadan is falling, how far along they were, and how good their pregnancy was going generally. One girl i know told me the town in Pakistan where she was from MOST women did fast during pregnancy and breastfeeding (you can't fast if you have lochia still anyway, so most never fasted if ramadan happened to fall in the first 4-6 weeks of breastfeeding)
IN many many parts of the world women live on FAR fewer calories that we in the West do. Many have to go days without food, and sometimes days without water, weeks, months, years, lifetimes without clean water. It's not ideal, but it hasn't wiped the human race out yet. I think in the situation of Ramadan, where a woman is able to eat and drink amply and healthily during the 24-hour period, just not during daylight, it's probably not dangerous for healthy women having normal pregnancies.
Yes, it's fine to fast during a normal pregnancy for 24 hours with no food or water. I have done it twice, both pregnancy's. Last year i was around 32 weeks, felt fine, just took it easy that day (still walked 25 mins each way to synagogue pushing a stroller).
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