Family trees and health

Anyone can inherit a susceptibility to certain illnesses. Knowing what medical problems run in your family will help your baby's doctor or nurse practitioner detect early signs and prevent serious complications. That's why you should keep important family records, such as birth certificates and accurate medical records that include information about family members' hospitalizations, illnesses and health problems.

To give your child the best care possible, his or her health care provider should know whether people in your family have had problems like these:

cataracts during childhood
childhood seizures
deaths in infancy
heart defects and other problems
hip dysplasia

Hip dysplasia

In some babies the hip joint does not completely form. This makes the hip prone to slip out of socket. Because babies do not bear weight on their hips until they are over a year old, there may be few symptoms of hip dysplasia in the first months after birth.

Knowing that hip dysplasia runs in your family allows your baby's doctor or nurse practitioner to monitor your baby closely for this. If hip dysplasia is diagnosed in the first few months, an orthopedic surgeon can usually treat the problem without surgery. If the diagnosis is delayed beyond a few months of age, hip dysplasia is harder to treat and the result less favorable.

Common medical problems

You child may experience common medical problems like these: