diff --git a/components/codetools/laz_xmlcfg.pas b/components/codetools/laz_xmlcfg.pas
index 5177420085..bf16e5321b 100644
--- a/components/codetools/laz_xmlcfg.pas
+++ b/components/codetools/laz_xmlcfg.pas
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ begin
     TDOMElement(Node).RemoveAttribute(NodeName);
     FModified := True;
   end;
-  while (Node.ChildNodes.Count=0) and (Node.ParentNode<>nil)
+  while (Node.FirstChild=nil) and (Node.ParentNode<>nil)
   and (Node.ParentNode.ParentNode<>nil) do begin
     if (Node is TDOMElement) and (not TDOMElement(Node).IsEmpty) then break;
     ParentNode:=Node.ParentNode;