INTRODUCTION:
the first 24 months of life are the critical window of opportunity to ensure proper growth and development in children. For the first 6 months of life, a baby should only be fed breast milk. From the seventh month of life, in addition to breast milk, the baby's diet should be supplemented with certain foods until 12 months of age, at which point they can consume any other food while continuing to receive breast milk, which is recommended until two years of age 1.

METHODS:
descriptive and cross-sectional observational study with a convenience sample of 182 migrant women with children up to 24 months old, invited to participate with signed informed consent and under the authorization of an ethics committee.

RESULTS:
the age of women has a lower limit of 15 years, a median of 24 years and an upper limit of 44 years. The ethnicity was 14% Afro-descendant and 86% mixed race. The average number of days spent traveling was 7, with a median of 2 nights spent sleeping on the street, 1 night in hotels, 2 nights in shelters, and 2 nights in the vehicle. On average, they spent 2.5 days paying for transportation, 1.5 days hitchhiking, 1.8 days walking, and 1.9 days in cargo vehicles. Only 16% of mothers found suitable spaces for breastfeeding along the migration route. The average number of times they received breast milk per day was 7, with an average of 0.9 times formula feeding and 2.5 times solid food. 3.7% of the children of migrant women were breastfed by someone other than their own mother. Conslusions: difficulties in meeting some basic needs along the migration route affect the quality and quantity of feeding for infants and young children.