I may only have the one child myself but in a variety of ways, including having been a nanny and childminder I have a LOT of experience caring for young children including multiples.
I’m also an ex nurse and while I wasn’t a paediatric nurse as part of my training I did rotations in paediatric wards.
For starters 1 minute is actually a very long time in terms of baby/toddler health especially in an emergency. It literally is the difference between life and death in MANY scenarios. And even if not death then certainly life changing even life limiting changes to that child’s health. It doesn’t even have to be as extreme as baby turning blue, any significant reduction of oxygen to the brain can have very serious consequences. I’ve nursed babies who’ve choked on pieces of food, or vomit or phlegm who’s caregivers weren’t as nearby as they should have been and who survived but who were left with brain damage. I’ve also nursed babies who had suffered burns/scalds which again would not have been as bad an injury had their caregivers been closer by. This can result in shortened lifespan. One child I cared for was 8 and had been badly scalded as a 2 year old, she’d had multiple skin grafts and other treatments I later learned she died just before the age of 10 as an indirect result of the injury and the necessary treatments.
The advice to not leave a baby under 6 months SLEEPING in a room alone is because (iirc been a while since I read the research)
1 yes so parents can respond quickly if there is an extended lull in breathing
But also
2 because being slightly roused on occasion by the noise of others actions rather than going into a fully deep sleep at this age is believed to be beneficial in preventing sids. It’s believed that part of the problem with sids is babies of this age slipping too deep into that state of unconsciousness
3 it’s believed babies are subconsciously aware of the others’ in the rooms breathing and that this prompts them to keep breathing themselves - yes I’m aware that’s a massive simplification of the theory but I hope understandable.
Op there has been so much research into sids and the current guidelines HAVE been shown to be successful in reducing the risk.
I’ve met people who’ve lost infants to sids. It destroys families, couples, it wrecks lives it’s an absolutely horrific thing to go through and I’ve met people who had lost infants to sids 3,4 decades before I met them as well as those for whom the loss was more recent, and it was like it had just happened, they blame themselves, each other (within couples), they are desperate for concrete answers and sadly as yet we don’t have them.
I genuinely don’t understand anyone who doesn’t follow the guidelines. They’re not difficult to follow and could well prevent a tragedy.
Personally I don’t think the guidelines on sids are portrayed seriously enough, and I would have paediatric first aid (good courses include education on noticing and preventing hazards) taught to all soon-to-be parents. It would prevent not only many tragedies but also many A&e paediatric admissions.
I’ve also personally survived 2 house fires and I can tell you that the smoke, difficulty in breathing, inability to see all happens incredibly quickly and is absolutely bloody terrifying, and the fire itself spreads astoundingly quickly too and there can be explosions and flash overs it’s utterly petrifying! I had training on how to get out of a fire and I still struggled to overcome my panic to follow that training. That experience led to me training my own dd from a fairly young age on what to do in a fire, she has a tendency to “flight” as a fear response and when young that included hiding which is the LAST thing you need a young child to do in this scenario, I even did “drills” with her. I was so glad I did when at one point a ndn had a gas explosion and we had to evacuate with a lot of smoke and frightening noise going on and rather than hiding she stayed put and shouted “mum” at the top of her voice until I got to her (house, I was downstairs at the time she was in her room)
Kids and especially babies can get into trouble in a blink of an eye, whoever is looking after them needs to be as near as possible and ready to respond to that.
“As if you’ve never left the room your baby sleeps in

Take the Moses basket into the toilet do you?” I can honestly say I have NEVER left a baby under the age of 6 months in a separate room while they were asleep since that advice became known and that’s over 20 babies that applies to including my own, and as I said includes when I was looking after multiple children. If I needed the loo or whatever I just waited they don’t sleep for long at that age.
She is now 18, she turns 19 next feb and the sids advice of back to sleep and not to leave them sleeping alone under 6 months was the case even then indeed a quick google reveals the campaign started in 1991. So it’s not new information.
And quite honestly I find your claims that you believe WE are the ones being dishonest are offensive and insulting and belies a frighteningly lax attitude to child safety from you.