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This website says (and I’ve heard it countless times):

In his sefer Shulchan Melachim (page 35b), R. Moshe Tzvi Landau writes that it is customary to place the Sefer Noam Elimelech, beneath the head of a mother during labor. This segulah has been practiced for hundreds of years and there are countless stories of miracles involving the Rebbe R. Elimelech and the Sefer Noam Elimelech.

My question is: does anyone know why? Why is this Sefer specially connected to child birth? I am curious how this came to be.

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    Considering Sefer Noam Elimelech was first published in the later decades of the 18th Century, the claim that "this segulah has been practiced for hundreds of years" feels a little dubious or misleading to me. I'm under the impression the custom may be of more recent antiquity.
    – ezra
    Nov 14, 2021 at 1:45
  • yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/1011084/rabbi-aryeh-lebowitz/…
    – Dr. Shmuel
    Dec 14, 2021 at 5:25
  • sefaria.org.il/…
    – Dr. Shmuel
    Dec 16, 2021 at 22:47
  • Not only with the Noam Elimelech, but it is also said that R. Yeshaya Zilberstein of Waitzen would send a copy of Or Hachochmah to women in labor, to place beneath their pillow as a segulah for an easy birth. See here.
    – Shmuel
    Sep 10 at 20:05
  • To add to that, it would seem that this segulah is brought down in sefer Shefa Taharah (שפע טהרה) on עמ’ תכ”ז.
    – Shmuel
    Sep 10 at 20:11

2 Answers 2

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https://www.torahmusings.com/2012/06/pregnancy-segulot/

One of the segula mentioned

Placing holy objects, especially a holy book, on the bed of a woman in labor is also an ancient practice in the hopes for a smooth delivery. A variation of this custom was to put it under the woman’s pillow. Although no longer practiced, there were even communities where it was customary to provide a woman in labor with a Torah scroll to hold!

It seems that over the last 200 years, this sefer became the one primarily used for this custom.

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    Why particularly this sefer? I'm not sure this is a full answer to the OP until you answer that.
    – magicker72
    Nov 14, 2021 at 3:53
  • It gives some background as to why the segula started. Why this particular sefer took precedence is still unanswered, but the segula was around before the sefer was printed as well
    – Chatzkel
    Nov 14, 2021 at 4:23
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I don't know about placing the sefer under her head... but the kaf hachaim writes in the name of the Noam elimelech that as a segula to have an easy childbirth a woman should eat melaveh malkah on motsei shabbat.

וכתב בס' דברי יצחק או' ס"א ששמע בשם הרב אלימלך ז"ל שסגולה לנשים שלא יתקשו בלידתן הוא שיאכלו בכל מ"ש קודש איזה דבר לשם מצות סעודת מלוה מלכה ועי"ז ילדו בנקל בע"ה ית' עכ"ל, והביאו א"ח או' ב':

https://www.sefaria.org/Kaf_HaChayim_on_Shulchan_Arukh,_Orach_Chayim.300.4.2

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