Babies in the Western world are being potty trained later than ever these days. However, it is possible to potty train infants, a new study suggests.

International research shows that babies in the Western world are, on average, three to four years old before they can fully look after themselves in the toilet. It is widely believed that babies cannot be potty trained and that parents have to wait until the child shows an interest or enough maturity, for example, the child themself may decide they do not want to wear nappies anymore.

Swedish scientists decided to investigate this further by following the progress of 47 Vietnamese infants and their mothers. In Vietnam, potty training begins at birth and the use of nappies is usually eliminated by the age of nine months.

The infants were monitored for two years. This method of potty training involves the mother becoming sensitive to when the baby needs to urinate.

"The woman then makes a special whistling sound to remind her baby. The whistling method starts at birth and serves as an increasingly powerful means of communication as time goes on," explained lead scientist, Prof Anna-Lena Hellström, of the University of Gothenburg.

The study found that by the time the infants were three months of age, their mothers could see signs of progress. Most were then able to use the potty by themselves by nine months of age and could take care of themselves totally in the toilet by the age of two.

"Our studies also found that Vietnamese babies empty their bladders more effectively. Thus, the evidence is that potty training in itself, and not age, is the factor that causes bladder control to develop," Prof Hellström explained.

She added that the results suggest that better communication between parents and their babies could allow for earlier potty training.

Details of these findings are published in the Journal of Pediatric Urology.