Heart to heart: Study your history

Your medical history, that is. If you (or your spouse) has a strong family history of cardiovascular disease, you (or your spouse), too, could be at risk, and you could be passing that risk on to your kids. Therefore, it's important to make your internist and your pediatrician aware of any incidence of heart disease in primary relatives -- parents, siblings, and grandparents.

Your family doctor probably has taken a detailed medical history, but your child's doctor might not have. So don't hesitate to bring up the subject with your pediatrician at the earliest possible opportunity.