Liam Payne shares rare glimpse of baby Bear as he celebrates his 24th birthday

The One Direction star became a dad for the first time in March this year

Liam Payne told fans that he had the 'best birthday ever' as he shared adorable pictures with his son Bear.

Liam and partner Cheryl have only posted two previous snaps of their baby boy following his birth in March, but taking to Instagram to mark his 24th birthday, Liam shared another rare glimpse of the little one with his 14 million followers.

Captioned simply with 'Best birthday ever 🐻💙' the picture showed a tiny baby's chubby little hand reaching out to hold his.

A photo posted by on

The tattooed rose design is recognisable on Liam's hand and fans rushed to comment that the little fingers stretching out could only be that of his young son Bear, who he shares with Cheryl, 34.

These two snaps offered a candid insight into the singer's family life, which his supporters clearly appreciated, with the image generating over 1 million likes and more than 47k happy birthday messages.

‘Happy for you in all the ways, have a beautiful birthday and kisses for Bear', one follower gushed, whilst another wrote: 'Aww Bear with daddy.'

A third commented: 'Happy birthday to you daddy, so sweet holding his little fingers'.

The family moment is likely to have meant a lot to Liam, who missed his first Father's Day earlier in the year due to his hectic tour schedule as his solo career takes off.

However, he didn't miss out on celebrating completely, as Cheryl chose to mark the occasion by sending him a bear necklace as a tribute to their newborn's animal-inspired baby name.

A photo posted by on

'I have had a great day. I got another Father's Day present - which is a little bear off Cheryl which I really love,' Liam said in an Instagram story video at the time.

Liam also received a birthday treat in the form of a message from his One Direction bandmate Niall Horan.

Taking to Twitter Niall wrote: '@LiamPayne happy birthday mate. Miss ya bud, see ya soon.'

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