magnifying-glass

↩ Department of Pediatrics

Overview

Safe Sleep & Other Tips

Education Tool Kit

Frequently Asked Questions

Faculty and Staff

Contact Us

The SIDS Center of New Jersey (SCNJ)

October is SIDS Awareness Month in New Jersey

Download THE SCNJ'S FREE SAFE SLEEP App! 

App Store App Store

Scan me to download app

Established in 1988, the Mission of SCNJ is to:

  • Study the causes and risk factors associated with Sudden Unexpected Infant Death.

  • Develop and offer risk reduction education and resources.

  • Provide bereavement support to grieving families whose infants died suddenly and unexpectedly.



Reducing the Risk of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death

  • Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a death in the first 12 months of life for which no cause has been found even after a thorough evaluation. It is one of the leading causes of infant mortality.

  • Although a cause may not yet be detectable, how to reduce the risk of these deaths is known.

  • The guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to reduce the risk of SIDS also reduce the risk of other sleep-related infant deaths such as accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed and ill-defined and unknown causes.

  • Grouped together, these sleep-related infant deaths are called Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID).



See the Updated 2022 American Academy of Pediatrics Recommendations for Reducing the Risk of Sleep-related Infant Deaths!

See the NICHD Safe to Sleep Campaign for more information!


  • New Jersey’s rate of SUID is among the lowest in the US

  • The SCNJ collaborates with national and state health, social service, and community programs with the shared public health mission of improving the well-being of New Jersey’s infants.

  • The information presented here is based on the evidence-based risk reduction guidelines of the AAP.

  • Research by the SIDS Center of New Jersey contributed to these guidelines.


SCNJ Statewide Hotline: (800) 545-7437
SCNJ Office: 732-249-2160

The SCNJ operates under a grant from the New Jersey Department of Health and is based at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the HMH Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital