Mild protein-calorie malnutrition is common in Western Samoa. Severe protein-calorie malnutrition is also an important cause of death in infants and toddlers, and anemia is frequently found in small children. This paper investigates child feeding practices because of its possible relationship with the occurrence of severe early malnutrition. Data on infant and toddler feeding practices were collected from 90 mothers from the town of Apia and 38 mothers from the island is Savai'i. Average age of mothers in Apia was 29.0 years and in Savai'i, 30 years. Most belonged to the low income group. Average interval between births in Apia was 22.3 months, in Savai'i, 25.7 months. The proportion of bottlefed children was much lower in Savai'i than in urban Apia, 28.2 vs. 57.9%. 31.3% of Apian mothers weaned their last child abruptly compared with 41.6% of Savai'i mothers. In Apia, weaning foods consisted of milk, meat, and other protein-rich foods; in Savai'i, taro, orange leaf tea, rice, and other were the main weaning foods. Generally, semisolids were not introduced before the child was more than 6 months of age. Some mothers in Savai'i appeared to give their children monotonous diet. A number of cultural taboos appear to affect the children's diet as well as that of pregnant and lactating mothers. Many women believed in them and would not eat or do certain things. Overall, it appears that many of the mothers are ignorant about the nutritional needs of their children. Almost 7% of the 0-5 year old children suffered from borderline malnutrition. 9% of the total number of admissions during the period October 1968 to April 1972 were malnourished children. The increase in borderline malnutrition and severe malnutrition among the children towards the end of the 1st year is attributed mainly to the late introduction of semisolid and solid foods. Other causes of malnutrition include lack of money, especially in urban areas, large families, changes in the diet because of higher consumption of imported foods (soft drinks, refined foods), decline in breastfeeding, and increase in early bottlefeeding.