The Global strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding, adopted by World Health Assembly (WHA), recognizes that two-thirds of these deaths occur during the first year and is related to inappropriate infant feeding practices. Poor feeding practices in infancy and early childhood, resulting in malnutrition, contribute to impaired cognitive and social development, poor school performance and reduced productivity in later life. The new norms of infant and young child feeding ie, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months (replacing the 4-6 months age range of earlier guidelines), introduction of complementary foods at six months while continuing breastfeeding up to the age of two years or beyond are not known to all. Breastfeeding improves the nutritional status of young children and reduces morbidity and mortality. Breast milk not only provides the child with important nutrients but also protects the child against infections. Inadequate infant and young child feeding practices contribute to the sharp increase in malnutrition-almost fourfold between the first few months of life and the completion of two years of age. Hence, the present article intends to discuss the feeding practices and nutritional status of rual children based on an empirical study conducted in selected rural areas of a district in Tamil Nadu.