Kim Hood wondered why her granddaughter, Isabella Feinauer, drew nothing but spiked lines on dozens of sheets of paper. Isabella, then 3 or 4 years old, was mimicking something she'd seen in her little brother's hospital room: EKGs.

Isabella had watched the readouts on medical machines while her brother, who was born with a congenital heart defect, was being treated. Now 12, Isabella has no doubt she wants to be a pediatric cardiologist when she grows up.

[Find ways to pay for medical school.]

It's hard to predict what children want to be when they grow up, but parents who think their child could become a doctor need to start saving now, whether the child is 3 years old or 16, says Lisa Featherngill, managing director of planning with wealth management firm Abbot Downing.

According to a survey of student tuition and fees by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the median cost in 2012-2013 for first year students at public medical schools is $54,625 per year for out-of-state students and $32,197 for in-state students, which includes tuition, fees and health insurance. First year students at private schools had median tuition, fees and health insurance costs of $50,078 for resident and $50,768 for nonresident students the same year.

While many parents can't afford the potential $200,000 bill for medical school, they can follow these tips.

1. Start saving early: While starting to save as early as possible for college costs is always important, medical school is more expensive and parents will need the additional time for money to grow via interest and investment earnings, Featherngill says.

This often means waiting to move the money from riskier investments that have higher growth potential to safer investments like short-term bonds and money market funds until students are undergraduates, since the money won't be needed for a few more years.

[Discover how to attend med school for free.]

As soon as Isabella's parents realized their child wanted to study medicine, they opened a Utah Education Savings Plan, a tax-advantaged college savings account known as a 529 plan. "Really, at such a young age she was so passionate about being a pediatric heart doctor," says Diane Feinauer, Isabella's mother. "We knew we had to start saving."

Follow this link:

Start Saving for Medical School With a 529 Plan