A mother says she 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.
US woman Brittany Davis, 30, says 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.
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However, after just 30 minutes of meeting with the midwife, the conversation turned towards Davis' diet and she claims that the woman was questioning her on her intake of protein, vitamins and calcium.
"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'," Davis told Caters.
"I quickly shut the conversation down and told her I didn't have any more 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".
Davis told Caters she received a text message from the prospective midwife the following day, suggesting the expectant mother to return to 'classic' diets before sending her a photograph of a book labelled Real Food for Pregnancy.
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 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 and Garrett!"
Davis says she's been vegan for over two years, "so how could I have lived this long and become pregnant again if we were so deficient in these important things needed for development?"
"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 that many other people have given her backlash for her choices.
"I became vegan just before my two-year-old son started solids, so he is also fully vegan," she explains.
"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 every day 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."
Caters.
