Moms and Babies Starting Stronger in Cambodia

A child’s first 1,000 days can change everything. The nourishment they receive—or don’t receive—makes a world of difference.

If the brain remains stunted during that window, there is little hope of reversing the damage. Samaritan’s Purse BEST (Best Early Start Today) programme in Cambodia is giving families a foundation of health and nutrition training that will bless mothers and babies with beginnings that will bear fruit for years to come.

Sadly, death during childbirth remains common in this Southeast Asian nation. So when 24-year-old Kanchana had her son, Daniel, she and her husband, Mab, did the extra things that their parents had done for generations in order to attempt to preserve lives. They practised postpartum heating where, after giving birth, the mother is placed on a wooden platform with fires lit beneath her to help reverse the temperature loss that occurs with birth.

Kanchana also took costly traditional Khmer medicines with all manner of ingredients—from herbs mixed in water to dead animal parts combined with alcohol—in hopes of boosting her immune system. Cambodians believe that these supplements combined with varied methods of fasting aid a mother’s health at this critical time.

Kanchana and Mab also wanted to stick to traditional Cambodian beliefs about caring for Daniel as he grew. They shied away from breastfeeding, favouring the use of formula instead.

Discovering New Healthy Practises

But God led them to volunteer with the BEST programme in their village where their eyes were opened to solid approaches to maternal and child health. They attended training in nutrition as well as water, sanitation, and hygiene while learning about the Gospel of Jesus Christ from Samaritan’s Purse staff.

After these classes, Kanchana and Mab decided to breastfeed instead of following long-held traditional approaches that had little background in science.

“Overcoming stereotypes in our community—such as postpartum heating, traditional Khmer medicine, and fasting—was difficult,” Kanchana said. “However, I committed to practise proper parenting habits and providing diverse foods for my son based on what I had learnt.”

The young mother diligently applied these principles for the next couple of years, but then her busy farming schedule got in the way of Daniel’s diet. She struggled to provide him with balanced meals. Soon, his health began to suffer.

Alarmed by his score of -2.96 on the malnutrition scale, she quickly sought the advice of Samaritan’s Purse staff and other health professionals.

With their input and her dedicated care for Daniel, he gradually returned to full health over the next few months.

Kanchana now has a renewed commitment to care for her son well and she enjoys getting to share the lessons she learnt with others in her community. She hopes that Samaritan’s Purse will extend its maternal and child health programming to more villages to continue to foster better parenting practises in Cambodia.

Please pray that Samaritan’s Purse staff would continue teaching practises for the healthy development of infants in Cambodia and that the babies’ parents will embrace the new life available only in Jesus Christ.

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