Cham Cambodian Postpartum Traditions

One of the things I love about the work I do is the actual people that this work allows me to meet and learn from.  So much of what I learn is from actually witnessing and learning from the clients who come across my path and share with me their traditions.  One such experience occured last summer, June 2020, when I met S and learned from her some of the beautiful and detailed Cham postpartum traditions of her people.

The Cham

The Cham are a Cambodian Muslim minority group who were targeted and persecuted during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.  A group of them migrated to the US in the late 70’s and a large community of them resides in current day California.  The Cham descended from a ruling party that ruled over parts of Vietnam before they migrated to Cambodia in the late 1400’s.  They speak their own unique language, practice Islam and continue to strongly preserve their Cham postpartum traditions in the care they give their new mothers in their community until today.

S’s Previous Postpartum Experience

I met S after her fourth child’s birth.  Although she had had 3 previous vaginal, unmedicated births, this time around she had a placenta previa.  Placenta previa is a condition where the placenta covers the cervix and the bottom of the uterus.  This situation results in a true need for a cesarean if the placenta previa remains as such by the end of the pregnancy. This was the case for S, and after her cesarean birth, she met her 4th child.

S shared with me the intense, focused care she received from her mother following her first 3 vaginal births; care centered around Cham wise, postpartum traditions.  This time around, her mother was hesitant in what she could provide, as she did not know what would be considered safe in her first few weeks post-cesarean.  S reached out to me when she was about 6 weeks postpartum, and we curated for her a special package which has then come to be known as my Cesarean Recovery Session.  This offering arose from the teachings I learned through my recently completed Innate Traditions course. The timing was perfect for her to ask and for me to share, and I couldn’t be more excited to put it out into the world.

S’s Experience with Cham Postpartum Traditions

While we spent our time together, S shared with me beautiful details of the Cham postpartum experience.  I had remembered learning about the Cham people as a young child in my birth city of Austin, TX in the late 70’s/early 80’s.  My father had befriended a few Cambodian Muslim students at our local masjid who studied at the University of Texas at Austin.  Memories of the young men in their sarongs remained a part of my childhood. We have one particular photo from my toddler years where I was swinging on the masjid’s swing set with a few other young children, and one Cham brother stood behind pushing the swings.

After our session, S shared with me beautiful pictures of the Cham postpartum traditions that her mother showered on her daughter after each of her births. I was so amazed at how deeply this tradition had been preserved.  It is no surprise that these ancient traditions are deeply rooted in wisdom and an understanding of the physiologic need of people in their immediate postpartum.

Cham Postpartum Warming Therapies- Heated River Rocks or Bricks

These bricks, or river stones, are heated, and then stood on- allowing the deep warmth to seep into the new mother’s body. If heat remains, it is placed on the lower abdomen to allow for heat and weight on the womb.

S described to me one of the beautiful traditions that her mother and father partook in with each of her births.  Her father would hunt for river rocks that were the perfect size and weight for what was needed.  If they couldn’t find the ideal rocks, they would use bricks, which were that perfect size/weight of about 4.5-5 pounds.  Her mother would heat these bricks in a gas oven, and then place it heated on the floor.  She would have her daughter stand on these heated rocks/bricks for as long as she could handle, to allow that deep roasting/warming to seep into her daughter’s body.

S explained that this tradition was done either standing or lying down, not in a sitting position.   As best as she could tolerate the heat, she would try not to wear socks; if it was too hot, they could wear socks and/or wrap the stone with a piece of cloth.   After this treatment, if there was any heat left in the stone, it would be placed on the new mother’s lower abdomen/womb area.  It was a way of conserving resources and energy, the same stone, with any remaining heat in it, was reused as a womb-warmer and source of weight for a grounding effect.

Cham Postpartum Warming Therapies- Pelvic or Womb Steaming

These rocks were collected by her father to help aid in her postpartum healing journey.

Many postpartum traditions have a version of whole body or womb-specific steaming to bring warmth and healing into this region of the postpartum body.  S described to me one version in Cham postpartum traditions where white alum stone and salt are added to hot water for a vaginal/womb/pelvic steaming session.  A large rock is heated, and the postpartum person stands over this hot rock wearing a traditional sarong (traditional wrap/skirt-like fabric).  The sarong serves to trap the heat and steam from the rock into the lower half of the body, for deeper warmth.  The white alum stone + salt + hot water mixture is poured over the hot stone, creating a steam that is trapped by the sarong.  The postpartum mother stands or squats over this rock & steam combination.   (Of note, this reminds me so much of what we learned of Moroccan postpartum womb steaming in the Layla B. tradition.  Hot water is poured over a hot rock with postpartum herbs on it, creating steam which rises and creates a traditional womb steam session after the Hamam).

Cham Postpartum Warming Therapies- Body Steam

This closely resembles the pelvic/womb steam, but aims to be a steaming/warming/sweat session for the entire body.  A special Cambodian herb mixture is used.  If this mixture is not available, one can use turmeric, ginger, galangal and salt in a boiling pot of water instead.  (Note: these herbs are the perfect everyday postpartum herbs. They are known in almost all postpartum traditions and lend a warming, anti-microbial, stimulating effect on the postpartum mother.)

There is an emphasis after this steam session on hydration to help replenish the body after the sweating it went through.  There is also an emphasis on maintaining warmth as the new mother transitions from the hot steam space to room temperature.

Cham Postpartum Herbal & Food Support- Teas, Soups & More

Image B: These pellets were prepared by S’s mother-originally from a powder form which she mixed with honey.

All ancient postpartum traditions hold onto the important principle of deep nourishment.  Oftentimes, this nourishment is achieved through the aid of our Plant Allies- Herbs, Foods and Spices.  S’s family supported her postpartum healing with a few different versions of herbal support including:

• An herb called bundol pech (or badol bic) which is the root of a tree native to Cambodia.  Every morning, 3-5 pieces of this root are added to a jar of hot water, and drunk throughout the day.  This drink would induce thirst- which would motivate the new mother to drink more liquids throughout the day; helping with hydration, healing and milk production.
• Alternate drinking the bundol pech with ginger & lemongrass in hot water and plain, drinking water.
• S’s mother would search for a source of this special herb (in Image B) which became more difficult to find in the US.  She has had to source it from relatives traveling to and from Cambodia in recent years (name not known at the time of sharing).  This particular herb has a very bitter taste, and was used for it’s deep warming quality to the postpartum body.  It is also known to help with the clearing out of the uterus (a quality of warming herbs) and with milk production.  Because of it’s bitter taste, S’s mother mixed this herb with honey to form these special pellets, and had her daugher take 8-10 pellets daily in her first 40 days.
• Tiger Balm– Whereas other Cambodian traditions might encourage drinking alcohol to warm up the new mother, Cham postpartum culture avoids alcohol ingestion due to their Muslim traditions.  Instead, they encouraged rubbing tiger balm on the face to bring warmth to the body.
• Kav Soup- This traditional soup for the postpartum is full of the same types of foods & spices used by so many other cultures.  It is made from a chicken, beef or fish broth, boiled eggs and lots of thinly sliced ginger slices and cracked black pepper as warming spices.

Cham postpartum herbs.

Final Thoughts

Postpartum Care Traditions share a deep connection through time and space, for all traditional cultures.  There was a deep wisdom that continued to be transferred from one generation to the next, and certain cultures have been able to preserve and hold on to these traditions well into our modern age- a true feat.  If you are ever searching for a connection between these traditions, remember that there will always be an emphasis on rest, deep nourishment, warming modalities, postpartum bodywork and most importantly, support from family and the community.

In Cham culture, S taught me a word that is used to describe the frailty that a woman might feel in her older/menopausal age- Tos or Toh.  This word was used to describe the condition of a woman who may get ill later in life and is attributed to how she was taken care of in her postpartum.  I look forward to the time that we can support all postpartum families in the way they best need- neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend, family member to family member.  And I give a special thanks to my friend, S, for introducing me to her culture and it’s beautiful practices.  It’s a source of deep honor for me to share this info so that others may remember what may have been forgotten.