LONDON: Former soccer star David Beckham has angrily hit back at a recent article published by a British tabloid which criticised him and wife Victoria for allowing their daughter Harper to use a pacifier even at the age of four.

The article featured a parenting expert who criticised the footballer and the fashion designer for allowing Harper to suck on pacifier, suggesting the little girl may grow up with “speech or dental issues” if she continues to use one.

An outraged Beckham, 40, took to his Instagram account to respond and stated, “Why do people feel they have the right to criticise a parent about their own children without having any facts?”

He went on to suggest his only daughter was sucking on the pacifier because she was feeling unwell, “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 criticise think twice about what you say about other people’s children because actually you have no right to criticise me as a parent.”