diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+1.4.6
+
+* Use `readField` in default implementation of `parseField`
+
 1.4.5
 
 * [Add ability to set the short name in the type](https://github.com/Gabriel439/Haskell-Optparse-Generic-Library/pull/84)
diff --git a/optparse-generic.cabal b/optparse-generic.cabal
--- a/optparse-generic.cabal
+++ b/optparse-generic.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name: optparse-generic
-Version: 1.4.5
+Version: 1.4.6
 Cabal-Version: >=1.10
 Build-Type: Simple
 License: BSD3
@@ -24,10 +24,11 @@
 Library
     Hs-Source-Dirs: src
     Build-Depends:
-        base                 >= 4.6      && < 5   ,
+        base                 >= 4.7      && < 5   ,
         system-filepath      >= 0.3.1    && < 0.5 ,
         text                                < 1.3 ,
         transformers         >= 0.2.0.0  && < 0.7 ,
+        transformers-compat  >= 0.3      && < 0.8 ,
         Only                                < 0.2 ,
         optparse-applicative >= 0.16.0.0 && < 0.17,
         time                 >= 1.5      && < 1.13,
diff --git a/src/Options/Generic.hs b/src/Options/Generic.hs
--- a/src/Options/Generic.hs
+++ b/src/Options/Generic.hs
@@ -329,6 +329,8 @@
 
 import Control.Applicative
 import Control.Monad.IO.Class (MonadIO(..))
+import Control.Monad.Trans.Except (runExcept)
+import Control.Monad.Trans.Reader (runReaderT)
 import Data.Char (isUpper, toLower, toUpper)
 import Data.Int (Int8, Int16, Int32, Int64)
 import Data.Maybe (listToMaybe)
@@ -397,8 +399,7 @@
         -- ^ Default value
         -> Parser a
     default parseField
-        :: Read a
-        => Maybe Text
+        :: Maybe Text
         -- ^ Help message
         -> Maybe Text
         -- ^ Field label
@@ -419,7 +420,7 @@
                        <> Options.long (Data.Text.unpack name)
                        <> foldMap (Options.help . Data.Text.unpack) h
                        <> foldMap Options.short c
-                       <> foldMap Options.value (d >>= Text.Read.readMaybe)
+                       <> foldMap Options.value (d >>= runReadM readField)
                        <> foldMap (Options.showDefaultWith . const) d
                 Options.option   readField fs
 
@@ -446,6 +447,11 @@
     metavar :: proxy a -> String
     default metavar :: Typeable a => proxy a -> String
     metavar _ = map toUpper (show (Data.Typeable.typeOf (undefined :: a)))
+
+-- | a readMaybe using provided ReadM
+runReadM :: ReadM a -> String -> Maybe a
+runReadM r s = either (const Nothing) Just $
+    runExcept (runReaderT (Options.unReadM r) s)
 
 instance ParseField Bool
 instance ParseField Double