Birth marks the beginning of the transition from external to internal self-regulation for infants. Acquiring regular sleep patterns, regulating crying and later, emotions are universal developmental tasks. Nevertheless, the values, beliefs, and parenting practices prevalent in different cultures both determine and mediate how these important self-regulatory tasks are accomplished. This article examines the impact that culture in general and immigration in particular can have on parental practices and beliefs, and the implications of a possible mismatch between the beliefs and practices of immigrant families and the developmental expectations of the host culture, particularly around infants' self-regulatory tasks. Implications for practitioners working with immigrant families and their infants are also considered. © 2005 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

Self-regulation culture infancy Immigration Parenting

developmental stage cultural anthropology human birth sleep pattern Review parental behavior Crying emotion autoregulation immigration