diff --git a/src/api.c b/src/api.c
index 16f88bd7..3f3e29c1 100644
--- a/src/api.c
+++ b/src/api.c
@@ -1206,6 +1206,7 @@ yaml_document_add_scalar(yaml_document_t *document,
 
     assert(document);   /* Non-NULL document object is expected. */
     assert(value);      /* Non-NULL value is expected. */
+    if (STACK_NULL(&context, document->nodes)) goto error;
 
     if (!tag) {
         tag = (yaml_char_t *)YAML_DEFAULT_SCALAR_TAG;
@@ -1258,6 +1259,7 @@ yaml_document_add_sequence(yaml_document_t *document,
     yaml_node_t node;
 
     assert(document);   /* Non-NULL document object is expected. */
+    if (STACK_NULL(&context, document->nodes)) goto error;
 
     if (!tag) {
         tag = (yaml_char_t *)YAML_DEFAULT_SEQUENCE_TAG;
@@ -1303,6 +1305,7 @@ yaml_document_add_mapping(yaml_document_t *document,
     yaml_node_t node;
 
     assert(document);   /* Non-NULL document object is expected. */
+    if (STACK_NULL(&context, document->nodes)) goto error;
 
     if (!tag) {
         tag = (yaml_char_t *)YAML_DEFAULT_MAPPING_TAG;
diff --git a/src/yaml_private.h b/src/yaml_private.h
index b3351c41..5a3ba184 100644
--- a/src/yaml_private.h
+++ b/src/yaml_private.h
@@ -420,6 +420,11 @@ yaml_stack_extend(void **start, void **top, void **end);
 YAML_DECLARE(int)
 yaml_queue_extend(void **start, void **head, void **tail, void **end);
 
+#define STACK_NULL(context,stack)                                               \
+  (((stack).start != NULL) ? 0 :                                                \
+        ((context)->error = YAML_MEMORY_ERROR,                                  \
+         1))
+
 #define STACK_INIT(context,stack,type)                                     \
   (((stack).start = (type)yaml_malloc(INITIAL_STACK_SIZE*sizeof(*(stack).start))) ? \
         ((stack).top = (stack).start,                                           \