Mum's shock after midwife 'refuses to deliver baby over vegan diet'
A mother was left mortified after claiming a midwife refused to deliver her child due to her being vegan – and even sent her a photo of a 'real food for pregnancy' book.
Brittany Davis, 30, was searching online for the best at-home birthing midwives in her area and reached out to one via email who suggested meeting that evening.
However, after just 30 minutes of meeting with the midwife the conversation turned towards Ms Davis's diet and she claims the woman questioned her on her intake of protein, vitamins and calcium before saying she'd have to “really think” about working with her.
The following day Ms Davis, from Central Iowa, claims she received a text message from the midwife where she suggested the expectant mother return to “classic” diets before sending her a photo of a book labelled 'Real Food for Pregnancy'.
"Within half-an-hour of meeting I was flooded with questions about my diet and the midwife told us that I'd have to eat 'tonnes and tonnes' of my usual diet to 'meet the nutritional needs of a pregnant woman',” Ms Davis said.
"I quickly shut the conversation down and told her I didn't have anymore questions, to which she replied, 'I'll really have to think about working with you, I've worked with vegans before and they just didn't cut it.'
"The next day I got a text from her basically saying that she wouldn't work with me due to my choice of being vegan and would only consider if I chose to return to a 'classic' diet.
"At first I felt defeated, then relieved that I knew she wasn’t the one.”
The midwife’s message read: "Hi Brittany. Thought carefully about us working together... Thinking we might stress each other out with 'veganism!'
“If you could find will to return to classic – maybe paleo diet even – it might work.
“I'm of the mind that you are building 'an animal of sorts' & need animal protein – esp (sic) during pregnancy!
“And you starting off with 'weak blood' by my standards.... Blood is the river of life!! Let me know if you want to talk further... I enjoyed meeting you & Garrett! (sic)”
Two-year-old son also vegan
The expectant mother, who is 13 weeks pregnant, said she had been vegan for more than two years.
"How could I have lived this long and become pregnant again if we were so deficient in these important things needed for development?” Ms Davis said.
"All I'd say is that she should have researched more before shooting down the idea of working with a vegan entirely to try and get a better understanding of it."
Despite this being the first midwife who has turned her down due to her dietary requirements, Brittany, an independent consultant, claims many other people had been opposed to her choices.
"I became vegan just before my two-year-old son started solids, so... he is also fully vegan,” she said.
"For the first six months, at least once a week, I was explaining to people that it is possible to raise a child vegan and not have them be malnourished.
"I would keep track on an app what I’d feed him everyday and if someone brought it up I would show them the app. It happens a lot less often now.
"I also track my own nutrients and take prenatal vitamins and supplements to keep myself and my baby healthy."
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