diff --git a/packages/babel-generator/src/index.js b/packages/babel-generator/src/index.js
index c755f38eff..11eb3409c6 100644
--- a/packages/babel-generator/src/index.js
+++ b/packages/babel-generator/src/index.js
@@ -13,21 +13,18 @@ class Generator extends Printer {
   constructor(ast, opts, code) {
     opts = opts || {};
 
-    let comments = ast.comments || [];
-    let tokens   = ast.tokens || [];
+    const tokens = ast.tokens || [];
     let format   = Generator.normalizeOptions(code, opts, tokens);
 
     let map        = opts.sourceMaps ? new SourceMap(opts, code) : null;
 
     super(format, map);
 
-    this.comments = comments;
-    this.tokens   = tokens;
     this.opts     = opts;
     this.ast      = ast;
     this._inForStatementInitCounter = 0;
 
-    this.whitespace = new Whitespace(tokens);
+    this._whitespace = tokens.length > 0 ? new Whitespace(tokens) : null;
   }
 
   format: {
@@ -49,9 +46,7 @@ class Generator extends Printer {
 
   auxiliaryCommentBefore: string;
   auxiliaryCommentAfter: string;
-  whitespace: Whitespace;
-  comments: Array<Object>;
-  tokens: Array<Object>;
+  _whitespace: Whitespace;
   opts: Object;
   ast: Object;
 
diff --git a/packages/babel-generator/src/printer.js b/packages/babel-generator/src/printer.js
index d26867e7cf..e99d9cf8dd 100644
--- a/packages/babel-generator/src/printer.js
+++ b/packages/babel-generator/src/printer.js
@@ -443,12 +443,12 @@ export default class Printer {
 
     let lines = 0;
 
-    if (node.start != null && !node._ignoreUserWhitespace && this.tokens.length) {
+    if (node.start != null && !node._ignoreUserWhitespace && this._whitespace) {
       // user node
       if (leading) {
-        lines = this.whitespace.getNewlinesBefore(node);
+        lines = this._whitespace.getNewlinesBefore(node);
       } else {
-        lines = this.whitespace.getNewlinesAfter(node);
+        lines = this._whitespace.getNewlinesAfter(node);
       }
     } else {
       // generated node
@@ -499,7 +499,7 @@ export default class Printer {
     // Exclude comments from source mappings since they will only clutter things.
     this.withSource("start", comment.loc, () => {
       // whitespace before
-      this.newline(this.whitespace.getNewlinesBefore(comment));
+      this.newline(this._whitespace ? this._whitespace.getNewlinesBefore(comment) : 0);
 
       if (!this.endsWith("[") && !this.endsWith("{")) this.space();
 
@@ -528,7 +528,8 @@ export default class Printer {
       this.token(val);
 
       // whitespace after
-      this.newline(this.whitespace.getNewlinesAfter(comment));
+      this.newline((this._whitespace ? this._whitespace.getNewlinesAfter(comment) : 0) ||
+        (comment.type === "CommentLine" ? 1 : 0));
     });
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/babel-generator/src/whitespace.js b/packages/babel-generator/src/whitespace.js
index 250b882f5b..2eb4f9b308 100644
--- a/packages/babel-generator/src/whitespace.js
+++ b/packages/babel-generator/src/whitespace.js
@@ -47,13 +47,7 @@ export default class Whitespace {
     if (endToken && endToken.type.label === "eof") {
       return 1;
     } else {
-      let lines = this._getNewlinesBetween(startToken, endToken);
-      if (node.type === "CommentLine" && !lines) {
-        // line comment
-        return 1;
-      } else {
-        return lines;
-      }
+      return this._getNewlinesBetween(startToken, endToken);
     }
   }