David Beckham Defends Letting Harper Use a Pacifier, Slams Daily Mail Article

David Beckham has responded to a Daily Mail article that criticized him for allowing his youngest child, four-year-old Harper, to use a pacifier, otherwise known as a "dummy" in England.

The British soccer star wrote, via Instagram, "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..."

Beckham also uploaded the screenshot of the Daily Mail article that published a picture of Harper with a pacifier. In the article, the author published quotations from an expert about the potentially harming effects of using a pacifier at a later age.

 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 ...

A photo posted by David Beckham (@davidbeckham) on Aug 10, 2015 at 9:23am PDT

"I can't believe she is still using a dummy," nurse and midwife Clare Byam-Cook said. "If she has a dummy in their mouth at this age, at four, it really can damage her teeth and it is very likely to hinder speech development."

Byam-Cook continued with her own analysis of the situation, stating, "David and Victoria seem wonderful parents and I'm sure they give Harper lots of attention but, like it or not, they are role models and lots of people will see this and think that having a dummy at this age is normal when it is not. It could be last child syndrome - because she is the youngest David and Victoria could be clinging on to her being a baby."

Since Beckham publicly defended his parenting decisions, many people have taken his side.

Siobhan Freegard, founder of video parenting network Channel Mum defended the Beckhams' decision to let Harper use the pacifier. Freegard told HuffPost UK Parents, "Every child is different, and every child's reason for using a dummy is different. If Harper wants to hang onto her dummy for a short while after toddlerhood, where's the harm?"

"David is absolutely right to defend his parenting. We don't know his children, and we don't know how often Harper uses a dummy, or whether it's helping her through personal issues," blogger Zion Lights, the author of Green Parenting, said. "It's no one else's place to comment. People are far too quick to judge parents, who are usually just trying to do their best. We know our children: strangers do not. Of course there are some things that it may be better to do or not do, but in the scheme of things, using a dummy at four is not high on the list of 'damaging parenting actions'. So I say well done for fighting back."

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, dental issues "can be evident after two years of age, but mainly after four years."

David and his wife, Victoria, have four children together.