The parents of a baby who died at just five days old have rued what they see as a missed opportunity to extend his tragically short life.

Louie Laxton was born at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital on September 22, 2022, and was his parents' second child. 

His mother and father, Alicia and Matthew Laxton, proudly brought him home a few days later to join their growing family.

But after the parents noticed he was having difficulties breathing, he was rushed back to hospital and died in the early hours of September 27.

It later emerged that he had a life-limiting - and undiagnosed - heart condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

During the first day of an inquest into his death, his parents described feeling as though opportunities to identify the condition had been missed.

The court heard that Louie's early signs were good - feeding comfortably and filling nappies.

However, an initial reading of his oxygen saturation found levels fluctuating between 75 and 86pc - which was put down to faulty equipment due to the baby's healthy colour.

Later, a new reading was attempted with different equipment and showed a healthier level.

But Mr Laxton said that had the earlier incident been escalated further, perhaps his son's condition may have been detected.

He said: "We have to live with the regret of not questioning more at the time.

"We accept he was never destined to live a full and normal life but the failure to escalate triggered a chain of events that denied us the choice for him to have life-extending treatment or a more dignified death.

"We truly hope lessons can be learned which help others and this would be the only positive to come from this tragedy."

Alexandra Holgate, an advanced neonatal nurse practitioner, told the court it had been identified that Louie had a heart murmur - but this was assessed as being "innocent" and was due to be followed up on in six to eight weeks.

The inquest continues.