Using data from the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (2001), we examine the effect of maternal socio-economic status on pre-school age children’s nutritional outcomes. Z-scores of child weight-for-height and height-for-age are used to measure child health outcomes. Our estimation results show that maternal education and autonomy exert a far greater influence on child nutrition than father’s education. We also find large gender and regional differences in the various nutritional outcomes. Interestingly, our results show that for females, the z-score for weight-for-age remains negative for all age categories, whereas for males it becomes positive from when they are 3 years or older. In the height-for-age model we find that for females their z-scores steadily worsen with each age category, so that even if they do not start with a disadvantage, by the time they are 3 years of age, their height-for-age is over 1 standard deviation below that of a 6-12 month female child.