Celebrating his first birthday in a zombie-themed photoshoot, little Phoenix smiled as he posed for the camera.
But his mother Amy Louise, from Brisbane, was slammed after her son was pictured in a series of gruesome photographs feasting on a bloody ‘brains’ cake.
What the trolls didn’t know about was the heartbreaking tale behind the pictures, taken by photographer Amanda Queen.
Little Phoenix (pictured) celebrated his first birthday in a zombie-themed birthday cake smash
But his mother Amy Louise was slammed after sharing the photos of her son’s birthday cake smash on Facebook
‘I was, in all honesty, slaughtered by these mothers – but they didn’t know our story,’ Amy told Kidspot.
After giving birth in October 2015, her newborn was immediately whisked away by doctors after Phoenix didn’t have a heartbeat.
The young mother was left reeling after she was convinced her baby son had died because he wasn’t breathing – as doctors tried desperately to resuscitate him.
‘Nine months of hell just to bury my son. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even feel sad, I felt furious. I was shaking,’ Amy recalled.
The adorable boy smiled as he posed for the cameras during a photoshoot for his first birthday
Baby Phoenix proved to be a little fighter when he was ‘brought back’ to life on Halloween
As the mother was having a blood transfusion, she heard a nurse cried out: ‘He’s come back!’
‘Could it be true? Did I just find out I’d lost my son but he came back? My little soldier, after 13 minutes of no heartbeat – he was alive,’ she said.
Baby Phoenix proved to be a little fighter when he was ‘brought back’ to life on Halloween on October 31.
Four days later, Amy was allowed to hold her ‘miracle zombie baby’ for the first time.
Celebrating his first birthday, the mother said she thought the zombie-themed cake smash for Phoenix was well suited following the ordeal.
‘What better than a zombie-themed cake smash for the tiny baby boy who was pronounced dead and then miraculously came to life on Halloween,’ she said.
The mother said she thought the theme was well suited to her son following the ordeal
After giving birth, Amy said she was left reeling after her son didn’t have a heartbeat
Amy said she was removed from mums Facebook groups after her ‘obscene and offensive’ images were not well received when she shared them on social media
But Amy said she was removed from mums Facebook groups after her ‘obscene and offensive’ images were not well received when she shared them on social media.
Remarks included: ‘That’s absolutely disgusting to put your baby in a theme like that’, ‘what kind of a mother dresses their son as a dead baby’ and ‘this is so offensive to all the women who have lost their children’.
The mother previously spoke out about her decision behind the shoot.
‘In true controversial Amy style, this picture received a lot of hate from mothers groups everywhere,’ she wrote on Instagram.
‘[I was] receiving comments like “this is sick”, “babies should be babies” and “this makes me uncomfortable”.
‘I think a zombie themed cake smash for his first birthday was awesome, especially since P was born still and came back from the dead on Halloween.’
The photos were taken by Amanda Queen. You can visit her website on Facebook.