A newborn baby died after hospital staff failed to wake his mother for "potentially lifesaving observations" before his birth, an investigation has found.
Sonny Taylor was left "distressed for a significant amount of time" before a delayed emergency Caesarean at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor, and died three days later from a severe brain injury caused by sepsis and lack of oxygen.
His parents Eve and Thomas said he was "badly let down when he needed help the most".
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board accepted the report's findings and apologised "unreservedly" for the failures in care.
Sonny's mother, Eve, 29, had been admitted to hospital after her waters broke at 36 weeks. Later that afternoon she was taken to the maternity ward after signs of potential infection were identified.
At 18:00 GMT, her observations and Sonny's heart rate were recorded as normal.
While Eve was asleep at 22:00, midwifery staff did not wake her to carry out further observations or listen to Sonny's heart rate, despite this being required, an internal investigation report found.
"When I awoke Sonny was not moving as much and I immediately knew something wasn't right," she said.
A registrar confirmed the foetal heart rate was abnormal, but Eve was wrongly transferred to the labour ward, causing further delay before Sonny was delivered by emergency Caesarean at 02:03.
Tests later showed Sonny "had been distressed for a significant amount of time" and should have been delivered earlier, the report said.
Investigators said that if Sonny's heart rate had been identified as abnormal earlier, "this would likely have changed the outcome".
Source: BBC News, 27 January 2026
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