Fellow mums defend Ferne McCann after fans raise fears about baby Sunday's safety

Mums jumped to Ferne McCann’s defence yesterday after she was criticised for not dressing her baby girl in a hat for an outing in the sun.

The comments came after the former TOWIE star posted a sweet candid shot of herself and her little girl enjoying the warm weather in Spain.

‘Sunday’s First Holibobs 👶🏼💛❤🇪🇸,’ Ferne captioned the Instagram image.

In the snap, the 27-year-old shows off her golden tan and toned postpartum physique while clad in a yellow bikini.

Wearing a pair of sunglasses and her hair in a high ponytail, Ferne beams at her daughter who looks totally adorable in a patterned swimming costume.

Despite acknowledging that it was a cute picture, a number of followers piped up to say that they thought Sunday was missing a vital protective accessory.

‘Where’s her sun hat, hope she doesn’t get sun stroke! Hopefully it’s not that hot there yet at the mo,’ said one.

‘You both look lovely though. Enjoy your break.’

When another quipped ‘get a hat on her’, Ferne felt the need to reply, retorting back: ‘She’s got one Trace’.

Seemingly spurred on by Ferne’s response, a number of admirers also took the opportunity to hit back at the critics.

‘Wow judgemental people! My three children would never keep a hat on so I put sun cream on their heads and kept them in minimal sun. Leave her be,’ said one.

Another sympathised: ‘I bet the person taking the photo is holding her hat. I don’t think five seconds for a photo will damage her skin somehow.’

A third defender suggested that there might be a far simpler explanation for Sunday’s lack of headwear.

’A picture literally takes less than a millisecond to take. Maybe the hat fell off, maybe she pulled it off. Maybe people should stop telling a mother how to care for her child,’ they wrote.

Ferne announced that she’d given birth to Sunday via Instagram on 2 November last year, a week ahead of her due date.