856. The Nine Days

122:8 The practice is not to eat meat and not to drink wine during the nine days from Rosh Chodesh until after Tisha b'Av. We may not even eat something that was cooked with meat or that contains animal fat. Even poultry is prohibited, though one who cannot eat dairy products without becoming ill may eat poultry. Everything is permitted for a sick person (even if he's not seriously ill - Mishnah Brurah 551:61) but, if it is not too difficult for him, he should refrain from eating meat from 7 Av and on. It is also the practice of some women after giving birth to refrain from meat and wine from 7 Av and on because that was the day that the invaders entered the Temple. Meat and wine are also permitted at a meal celebrating a mitzvah, such as after a bris or pidyon haben, or a siyum for concluding a tractate of Talmud. Apart from one's parents, siblings and children, and those who have some connection to the mitzvah being celebrated, one may invite an additional ten friends so long as they would have attended such a meal even if it were held not during the Nine Days. All this is permitted even on the eve of Tisha b'Av before midday but not after that. The meal that is customary to hold on the night before a bris is not considered a meal of a mitzvah so meat and wine are not permitted. Therefore, this meal should be made with dairy foods. If there is a child who can drink the wine used for havdalah after Shabbos, it should be given to him. If not, then the one who made havdalah may drink it himself.

122:9 We do not wash laundry during the Nine Days, not even a shirt or a garment that one does not plan to wear until after Tisha b'Av. (If a person only has the one shirt, he may wash it from Rosh Chodesh until Shabbos - Mishnah Brurah 551:29.) It is likewise prohibited to give one's clothes to a non-Jew to be laundered. A Jewish woman is permitted to wash clothes for a non-Jew but she should do so discreetly during the week of Tisha b'Av. It is also forbidden to wear or to lay out freshly-laundered clothes during the Nine Days, even if they were washed beforehand. One may only wear freshly-laundered underclothes and lay out freshly-laundered tablecloths in honor of Shabbos. One may change the hand towels as he normally does for Shabbos, but he may not change the bed sheets. A woman who needs to wear white undergarments for her seven clean days before attending the mikvah may wash and wear them. Similarly, baby diapers (and other children's clothes - Rema 551:14), which are frequently soiled, may be laundered.