diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 287d14ab..2d8eb59b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 ### Added
 
 ### Changed
+- Fix support of `auto_now` and `auto_now_add` fields in combination with `_fill_optional`
 
 ### Removed
 
diff --git a/model_bakery/baker.py b/model_bakery/baker.py
index 07d4ee2c..d0f5a0e5 100644
--- a/model_bakery/baker.py
+++ b/model_bakery/baker.py
@@ -70,6 +70,10 @@ def _valid_quantity(quantity: Optional[Union[str, int]]) -> bool:
     return quantity is not None and (not isinstance(quantity, int) or quantity < 1)
 
 
+def _is_auto_datetime_field(field: Field) -> bool:
+    return getattr(field, "auto_now_add", False) or getattr(field, "auto_now", False)
+
+
 def seed(seed: Union[int, float, str, bytes, bytearray, None]) -> None:
     Baker.seed(seed)
 
@@ -513,10 +517,7 @@ def instance(
             if isinstance(field, ForeignRelatedObjectsDescriptor):
                 one_to_many_keys[k] = attrs.pop(k)
 
-            if hasattr(field, "field") and (
-                getattr(field.field, "auto_now_add", False)
-                or getattr(field.field, "auto_now", False)
-            ):
+            if hasattr(field, "field") and _is_auto_datetime_field(field.field):
                 auto_now_keys[k] = attrs[k]
 
             if BAKER_CONTENTTYPES and isinstance(field, GenericForeignKey):
@@ -589,6 +590,9 @@ def _skip_field(self, field: Field) -> bool:  # noqa: C901
         else:
             field.fill_optional = field.name in self.fill_in_optional
 
+        if _is_auto_datetime_field(field):
+            return True
+
         if isinstance(field, FileField) and not self.create_files:
             return True
 
diff --git a/tests/test_baker.py b/tests/test_baker.py
index 46c26c44..835c91c5 100644
--- a/tests/test_baker.py
+++ b/tests/test_baker.py
@@ -1124,3 +1124,16 @@ def test_make_with_auto_now(self, use_tz, settings):
         assert instance.created == now
         assert instance.updated == now
         assert instance.sent_date == now
+
+    @pytest.mark.django_db
+    def test_make_with_auto_now_and_fill_optional(self):
+        instance = baker.make(
+            models.ModelWithAutoNowFields,
+            _fill_optional=True,
+        )
+        created, updated = instance.created, instance.updated
+
+        instance.refresh_from_db()
+
+        assert instance.created == created
+        assert instance.updated == updated