Most pediatricians recommend babies be weaned from the bottle by age 1 because of cavity concerns. Nearly 20 percent of 2- to 3-year-olds have untreated caries, and among 5- to 9-year-olds, the percentage of children with fillings or carious lesions increases to more than 50 percent.

Long after the first birthday bash, however, many keiki are still happily nursing their bottles. Age 2 comes and goes, and stalwart toddlers remain reluctant to relinquish their favorite method of drinking and considerable source of comfort.

With the popularity of breastfeeding, some infants never do take to a bottle. While that has its pluses, it also means mother and baby are virtually inseparable; kiss long date nights goodbye. The best is a child who will flexibly accept both methods, then transition without fuss to a cup.

However, it seems that babies can easily become attached to bottles. This was the case with our daughter. My husband and I tried encouraging her to at least progress from her slow-flow, newborn-style nipple to a faster-flow type for infants her age.

"Nothing doing" read our little darling's expression, as she quickly ejected the unfamiliar version from her mouth. Savoring the trickling flow of her original bottle, we wondered if she would break the world record for the longest time to finish a bottle's worth of milk.

Her first birthday passed, and she still lacked a willingness to change. Unfazed, the grandparents took it in stride, stating that in their day bottle-weaning recommendations were not as stringent. Perhaps secretly they enjoyed watching those dainty lips and squeezable cheeks sucking while she gazed at them with adoring eyes.

For some time my husband and I did not see any harm in continuing to allow the bottle, either, as long as we cleaned her teeth assiduously, restricted the bottle to meals, and limited the intake of sugary fluids. A clean bill of health at her first dental checkup also spelled relief.

Soon, however, our child was 18 months old. Sippy cups seemed a viable next step. However, she could not (or would not) drink from any version, despite the fact that we ended up owning virtually every kind available: two-handled, straw-based, cartoon decorated, etc. Finally, a friend tipped us off to a disposable version which allowed liquid to flow more easily. Success!

Still, there was a problem. Our daughter would only drink water from the sippy cup. Milk, even in diluted form, was rejected. We endeavored to teach her how to drink from a real cup. The straw she mastered, but unless someone else held the vessel, it was not going to be a workable alternative for a while yet. Again for the real cup, solely water was acceptable.

My husband and I had reached an impasse. The tyke needed milk for nutrition but would only drink milk from a bottle.

Finally, one day, we went cold turkey. After that, it took her eight long additional months to eventually drink milk from a sippy cup, but neither did she ever ask for a bottle again.

Who knew that we would become such cheerleaders over something as seemingly insignificant as a sip, or that our daughter's recent acceptance of drinking milk with her cereal would feel like victory? Ah, parenting. It is our own home version of the Olympics.

Monica Quock Chan is a freelance writer who lives in Honolulu with her husband and children.