Is it permissible for women to wash a deceased child?

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It is established without dispute that a woman must wash a young male child. Scholars like Ibn al-Mundhir report consensus among those whose knowledge is preserved among the people of knowledge that women wash young boys. Imam Ahmad permits women to wash one under seven years of age. Al-Hasan permits it if the child is weaned or older. Al-Awza'i limits it to a boy under four or five. The companions of Al-Ra'y state it is permissible if the child has not begun to speak. The evidence for this is that obligations like prayer are not commanded for a child under seven, nor does he possess a defined area of modesty (awrah), thus resembling what is entrusted to them. For a child who has reached seven but not ten, there are two reported positions regarding whether women may wash him.