This paper explores the language experiences of preverbal infants in Australian childcare centres with the aim of examining cultural regulation within the childcare context. Language is defined as a social and communicative act that is related to the development of voluntary action (Vygotsky 1962; Lock 1980; Leontiev 1994). The study uses naturalistic observations of language and communication as a method of recording infant experiences and analysing daily events, framing the childcare context as a developmental niche. The developmental niche is the interface between the self and culture. Knowledge is socially constructed and can be liberating or constraining. The infants in this research were gaining a conceptual knowledge of the social world of childcare as constructed within the Australian community. Their experiences reflected cultural attitudes towards infants, towards particular infants as defined by age, personality, actions and probably gender. Findings from the study indicated the focus children initiated more communication than adults in the setting and their communicative messages were frequently misunderstood, even when repeated and diverse strategies were used to repair the message. That the settings were more reactive than reciprocal and the adults had a limited range of abilities for reading children's preverbal language acts has implications for the social design of group care and pre-service training for adults who will work with very young children. (Contains 1 figure.)