These photos of a dad and daughter holding hands will melt your heart

The bond between a father and daughter is a special one, and one little girl now has a beautiful set of photographs showing her holding hands with her dad – all taken in secret.

The child's mother started taking the photos when her daughter was a baby.

Each time the little girl and her dad held hands, the mother was close behind sneakily taking a snap.

The mother, who posted the photos on Reddit under the name MrsIronBad, says she began documenting their sweet relationship in 2014.

She shared 16 of the photos online, each showing her daughter and her husband hand-in-hand.

The first shows the toddler in a pink top barely reaching her dad's hip, but as the images progress the child has clearly grown into a young girl.

MrsIronBad hopes to turn the photos into a video montage to use at her daughter's 18^th birthday, or wedding, in the future.

The family live in the Philippines and the photos show the dad and daughter shopping, walking through the countryside, going to school and attending a party.

MrsIronBad is pretty confident her hubby and daughter don't know about the images, because he's not a social media user.

"My husband’s not a redditor and he doesn’t have any social media accounts anymore, so I think my secret is still safe," she says.

The post quickly racked up hundreds of comments, with many users complementing the mum for her creative effort.

By the time the little girl reaches her 18^th birthday, she'll have countless beautiful mementos of her precious time with dad, seen from the eyes of her loving mum.

What a special gift, indeed.