Introduction: Malnutrition is a burning issue in most of the developing countries even in this advanced world of technology. The very first step is improving breast feeding practices in post natal period which is very much neglected and most of them end up depending on many harmful cultural practices thus affecting the nutritional status of the children. Aims & objectives: (1) To assess the breast feeding practices in children below 2 years of age (2) To identify association between breast feeding practices and nutritional status of children. Materials & methods: A hospital based cross sectional study has been conducted at a Tertiary Care Hospital, Nellore (A.P.) with a convenient sample size of 100 using simple random sampling method; a pre –structured questionnaire has been used to collect data; statistical analysis has been done using proportions and chi–square test. Results: Pre–lacteal feeds were given in 23% of the subjects, colustrum was given in 89% of subjects; around 59% of them initiated breast feeding within 1 hour of delivary, 84% of them practiced demand feeding, 19% of them encouraged bottle feeding. There was no association identified between breast feeding practices and nutritional status of the children (p>0.05, not significant); whereas for children below 6 months, exclusive breast feeding was associated with normal nutritional status (p<0.01, highly significant). Conclusion & Recommendations: There is an urgent need to fill the gaps in KAP of breast feeding among post natal mothers. Breast feeding support groups can be formed for close monitoring and guiding the young mothers in the hospitals for a better outcome especially among infants.