The reason an Aussie influencer was forced to defend her decision to go to the gym with her three-year-old son - before deleting the controversial post

Steph Claire Smith has hit back at critics under she came under fire for going to the gym with her infant son.

The fitness influencer, 30, came under questioning from followers over her decision as they accused her of not spending quality time with her son Harvey, three.

She had shared a video of herself at the gym with her son in tow, prompting mum-shaming trolls to criticise her for not going without Harvey another time.

One follower commented: 'If it was your day with him, why did you need to go to the gym. Wouldn't you want to do fun things with him?' 

In a since-deleted TikTok post and Instagram reel, Steph clapped back at her critics, saying she didn't 'need someone else's judgement'.

She fumed: 'If it's not how you parent, fine, but casting this kind of judgement publicly is just so unnecessary.

'This comment was on my latest reel, where I showed myself getting a gym workout in, and taking Harvey with me for the first time ever.'

Steph also insisted that making time to exercise is not a selfish act for a parent to do and suggested that taking a toddler to the gym was a way to instill a healthy lifestyle.

'If the way you fit in your movement is, like me, often when Harvey is around, well then you're only teaching them that looking after your body is an important habit to build,' she said.

Steph shares her son Harvey with her husband Josh Miller and is often candid about the realities of parenting on her social media.

Steph frequently shares the challenges she faces as a young mother and business woman.

In January, Steph spoke about the difficulties of parenting he toddler at Christmas time.

She shared an emotional video to social media revealing just how her boy Harvey was turning her family holiday into a nightmare.

'Is your toddler currently in a phase where they like one parent more than the other? Or they're being nice to one parent and then mean to another? Because at the moment Josh is absolutely copping it,' Steph said, her voice trembling with emotion.

'Harvey doesn't want a bar of him and it's quite horrible to watch, and it's been exhausting this holiday.'

The social media star shared another parenting struggle last month when she uploaded a screenshot of a wellness app page which showed she only got three hours of sleep.

Elsewhere, Steph he recently revealed she is hoping to expand her family and wants to give Harvey a sibling. 

'We aren't one and done,' she said during a fan Q&A session on her KICPOD podcast in July.

'We'd love to have a second child. It's about working out the best timing for our family at the moment.

'[But we are] super excited [to have another]... if we are lucky enough to have a sibling and grow our family...we'll see.

Steph and Josh welcomed their son Harvey back in May 2021.

They married in November 2019 in a festival-themed ceremony along the Murray River, exactly one year after getting engaged at the same location.