David Beckham hits out at criticism over daughter Harper's dummy

David Beckham has slammed critics who questioned his four-year-old daughter Harper's use of a dummy.

The ex-England star hit back at criticism saying others had no right to judge him as a parent, after an article in the Daily Mail suggested the youngster was too old to still need the pacifier.

The former footballer posted a screenshot of the article on his Instagram page to his 10.1 million followers, accompanied with a message indicating his daughter had been unwell.

It read: "Why do people feel they have the right to criticize a parent about their own children without having any facts ??

"Everybody who has children knows that when they aren't feeling well or have a fever you do what comforts them best and most of the time it's a pacifier so those who criticize think twice about what you say about other people's children because actually you have no right to criticize me as a parent ..."

An expert quoted in the article claimed that the use of the dummy could mean the Beckham's fourth child, and only daughter, could end up with speech or dental issues.

It also featured pictures of Harper walking alongside her father in white dress with fluorescent pink stars, and with a dummy in her mouth.

Beckham often uses his Instagram page to share pictures of his family, including his three sons, Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz, and wife Victoria.

Within an hour of him posting the message hitting out at the Mail story, it had been liked more than 270,000 times, and had more than 9,000 comments - many of them showing support for the frustrated father.