ABSTRACTABSTRACTChild malnutrition is a global public health problem which causes irreversible damage to physical and cognitive development in early childhood. In 2015, the National Survey of Nutrition reported that Boyacá, Colombia had a prevalence of chronic malnutrition of 11.6% above the national average, considering that Boyacá is predominantly rural territory. This article analyzes the risk factors that influenced the diets of children between 16 and 38 months among 27 rural families. Through a descriptive cross-sectional study, a survey of the socio-family characterization and knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) were applied with participating families. It was found that among the nutritional risk factors in early childhood are low levels of maternal schooling, low economic income, and barriers to accessing health and education services. The results of this research enable contributions to the contextualization of public policies in health and nutrition with a territorial approach that allow the improvement of the quality of life in early childhood in rural areas.KEYWORDS: Early childhoodsocial factornutritionrural populationchild welfare Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThe work was supported by the Fundación Universitaria Juan de Castellanos [CI045].