diff --git a/libs/gtkmm2ext/utils.cc b/libs/gtkmm2ext/utils.cc
index c18023e020..e16a9e251e 100644
--- a/libs/gtkmm2ext/utils.cc
+++ b/libs/gtkmm2ext/utils.cc
@@ -631,6 +631,7 @@ Gtkmm2ext::container_clear (Gtk::Container& c)
 {
         list<Gtk::Widget*> children = c.get_children();
         for (list<Gtk::Widget*>::iterator child = children.begin(); child != children.end(); ++child) {
+                (*child)->hide ();
                 c.remove (**child);
         }
 }