My question is about Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

My mom had two first cousins who had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and died in the 1960's. I know it's a possibility that I have passed this disease to my son, because these boys were my maternal grandmother's sister's sons. Is there a way to calculate what the chances are that I have this gene? No one else in our family that we know of has the disease, including my uncle and my brother.

My son is almost 2. He exhibits none of the warning signs that I can see. I know I can ask our pediatrician about it and probably will at his 2 year check up. But what would be the next step, especially if he doesn't have any symptoms? Do orthopedists do screening exams, or would our only option be genetic testing?

Thank you.

I am wondering how to handle food at day care. Right now my daughter is just under a year old, so I am still sending bottles and more and more "real" food, but when I look at what the toddlers are being served (included in the price of daycare), I am not sure I want her eating it? I think it must meet some standards of nutrition, but it seems to be an awful lot of canned and processed food.

Any thoughts on (1) how I continue to provide a fresher lunch without offending my daycare providers who I otherwise like; and (2) how I get her to eat what I am sending instead of the more sugary/processed what they are serving?

This could also be expanded to be a more general question about sending food with your child to school versus eating school lunch.

Thanks!

My almost 4 year old is having problems sharing toys with her newly 1 year old twin brothers. How can I help her learn how to share without going crazy? So far her version of sharing is to rip whatever toy she wants to play with out of her brothers' hands, even if she had not been playing with or wanting to play with the toy. This of course makes them cry and I get so frustrated. I feel like the toy police. How can I help her understand to share and not just take?