The SIDS Center of New Jersey (SCNJ)

October is SIDS Awareness Month in New Jersey

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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