diff --git a/packages/node_modules/pouchdb-selector-core/src/utils.js b/packages/node_modules/pouchdb-selector-core/src/utils.js
index 4bd322ca55..10c509c82b 100644
--- a/packages/node_modules/pouchdb-selector-core/src/utils.js
+++ b/packages/node_modules/pouchdb-selector-core/src/utils.js
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@ import { clone } from 'pouchdb-utils';
 // this would just be "return doc[field]", but fields
 // can be "deep" due to dot notation
 function getFieldFromDoc(doc, parsedField) {
+  if (!doc) {
+    return;
+  }
   var value = doc;
   for (var i = 0, len = parsedField.length; i < len; i++) {
     var key = parsedField[i];