A woman has hit back at store staff and passers-by who criticised her parenting because her autistic daughter was crying uncontrollably on a shopping trip.

Sammi Ovington, 23, took to Facebook after strangers spent the day staring at her three-year-old daughter, Skye, who had become overwhelmed on the visit to their local town centre.

The mother, from Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, said she was approached by a member of staff in Wilko who advised her she should take her daughter outside to calm down.

Overwhelmed: Three-year-old Skye, pictured left and right with mother Sammi Ovington, cried uncontrollably for two hours while on a shopping trip. Strangers criticised the pair, branding Skye a 'naughty' little girl

Hitting back: Mother Ms Ovington took to Facebook to write this post slamming the way she had been treated

Ms Ovington, who lives with her partner Arron Martin, said because her daughter has autism it can be hard to console her so the young mum nipped into Wilko to buy a teddy to cheer her up.

She said: 'Skye has autism and when I took her shopping she wasn't having a good day, I was out for about two and a half hours and for two of them she was crying.

'I could tell people were staring at me but I was gob smacked that people actually had the nerve to come up to me and tell me to control my child. It just shocked me.'

Later a shopper branded her an 'irresponsible' mother with a 'naughty' child because she had given Skye something to chew on in Paperchase.

But in the Facebook post Ms Ovington explains her daughter suffers from Pica - a rare condition that means she has an impulsive and uncontrollable need to eat non-food substances.

Told off: Skye has hypermobility syndrome, which makes walking long distances painful. To make shopping trips more comfortable, Ms Ovington takes her out in a buggy (right). But one customer said she was too old

Support: Miss Ovignton, who lives with partner Arron Martin (pictured), said she hopes to raise awareness

In another store she was told her daughter is too old to be in a buggy - but Skye also has hypermobility syndrome, which makes walking long distances incredibly painful.

WHAT IS PICA? Pica is an eating disorder that is characterised by the desire to eat items with little or no nutritional value. These can include stones, sand, paint and dirt. It is most common in people with learning disabilities and during pregnancy. It can cause a range of serious complications if the person is eating something that is poisonous or indigestible. These include being poisoned by toxic ingredients and having a part of the body obstructed (which is often seen in people who eat hair). It can also lead to excessive calorie intake, but also nutritional deprivation if the person eats a substance with no nutritional value instead of nutritious foods. The person can also damage their teeth and be infected with parasites. Advertisement

Outraged at how she had been treated, Ms Ovington wrote a message on social media explaining her daughter's situation. The post has since been shared more than 2,000 times.

Ms Ovington said she hopes the post will raise awareness of what it is like to have a child with autism.

'Sometimes I just can't calm Skye down and it's times like that that I feel a bit lost,' she said. 'When people stare I just want the ground to swallow me up.

'When people were giving me dirty looks and whispering behind my back I couldn't really focus my energy on them because I was trying to calm my little girl down.

'But when I got home I was just so angry. I sometimes get a couple of comments but I'd just had a really bad day and wanted people to know how it made me feel.

'I can't believe the amazing response the post has had, I just wrote it when I was angry and didn't expect anyone to respond, now for people to say that it's a great way to raise awareness is just fantastic.'

Outraged: Ms Ovington, pictured with Skye, said she was upset at how she had been treated by shop staff

Brave: Skye, pictured, also has Pica, a rare condition that means she has an impulsive and uncontrollable need to eat non-food substances. Her mother gave her paper to chew while she was in Paperchase

Asked to leave: The mother, from Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, said she was approached by a member of staff in Wilko who advised her she should take her daughter outside to calm down

A spokesperson from Wilko said, 'We're sorry if the customer feels she was dealt with insensitively.

'We're looking into the circumstances in detail and will respond directly to the customer once we've completed our investigation.'

A Virgin Media Spokesperson said: 'We apologise to Ms Ovington if she feels she did not experience the discretion and sensitivity that we expect from all of our employees'.