There May be Worse Postpartum Experiences!
All New Mums Lying In Hospital Aching, Well, Everywhere, Take Heart
Mar 5, 2009
Roasting new mums is an ancient tradition in Cambodia - a cross between traditional medicine techniques which are based on the same hot and cold, yin and yang principals of Chinese medicine, and superstition which demands smoke to keep bad spirits away.
So while Western mums are coping with changing shifts of nurses with different ideas on whether to sweep the curtains open or slam them closed and a newborn who is still working out the ins and outs of bodily functions and just will not sleep on command, new Khmer mums are, quite literally, roasting over an open fire.
"In rural Cambodia 86 percent of women deliver at home (and) after giving birth women traditionally follow ... a form of heating, known locally as 'roasting' or ang pleung," explains Cambodian women's reproductive health organization RACHA.
"After giving birth a woman is carried by her husband to a wood or bamboo bed under which a fire has been built ... In the past it was considered important to use a certain mix of woods to protect against supernatural forces and produce a smoke which eased the pain of childbirth. At the present time most women appear to prefer charcoal as it is smoke free, but may be more toxic."
The skill lies in building a fire which will give off smoke constantly for up to a week but will not fall through the floor of Cambodia's mainly thatched wooden houses, or worse, burn the bed so the new mother falls into the fire.
Roasting was once practiced widely in Southeast Asia, but although it remains the norm in Cambodia, in nations like Malaysia and Thailand it has virtually stopped. Foreign experts are split on its benefits, if any, although Cambodians swear to its positive effects on circulation and recovery.
Some Say Mother Roasting is Restful
In a country where a woman's work is literally never done, and families of 10 or more children are common, some researchers say that besides the religious and health beliefs surrounding roasting, it may offer an enforced rest period where a new mother is able to close the curtains and just lie down and recover for a while.
"During (roasting) a woman (and her newborn baby) should stay on the bed or bed areas covered with curtains ... so it looks like segregation of the woman from the ordinary life after childbirth, but at the same time she is able to take a complete rest during this period," notes researcher Miwa Takahashi, who studied pregnancy and childbirth practices in Cambodia between 2002-03.
It also appears to be a bonding rite between the father and the new mother, with the male responsible for finding the fuel for the fire and taking care of the newborn while she, quite literally, smokes.
Despite a concerted government campaign, many traditional Cambodians still generally regard colostrum as bad or "sour" milk, and discard it, and, adding the challenge of breastfeeding over a smoking fire, Cambodian mums often delay putting babies on the breast immediately.
Many Cambodian women feel roasting is a must on the path of successful motherhood, although it is becoming less common in urban areas now.
"My mother asked my father to get the wood a long time before she had the next baby after me and she really believed in roasting," says Bunna, now 45. "My wife was in the city when she had children, and she decided not to with either of our children."
Whatever the reasons behind this ancient practice, for new Western mothers lying back in bed, picking at hospital food and catching their breath after a birth in between snatching a few hours sleep when they can, the roasted mothers of Cambodia give smoking a whole new meaning, and, perhaps, a new personal note to the saying "there is always someone worse off than you".
