diff --git a/lib/6to5/generation/buffer.js b/lib/6to5/generation/buffer.js
index ae6e174400..9bfa757816 100644
--- a/lib/6to5/generation/buffer.js
+++ b/lib/6to5/generation/buffer.js
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@ Buffer.prototype.removeLast = function (cha) {
 };
 
 Buffer.prototype.newline = function (i, removeLast) {
-  if (!this.buf) return;
   if (this.format.compact) return;
 
   if (_.isBoolean(i)) {
@@ -88,7 +87,10 @@ Buffer.prototype.newline = function (i, removeLast) {
   if (removeLast && this.isLast("\n")) this.removeLast("\n");
 
   this.removeLast(" ");
+
+  // remove whitespace if last character was a newline
   this.buf = this.buf.replace(/\n +$/, "\n");
+
   this._push("\n");
 };
 
diff --git a/lib/6to5/generation/generator.js b/lib/6to5/generation/generator.js
index 842e397899..63919c94d3 100644
--- a/lib/6to5/generation/generator.js
+++ b/lib/6to5/generation/generator.js
@@ -138,6 +138,9 @@ CodeGenerator.prototype.print = function (node, parent, opts) {
       var needs = n.needsWhitespaceAfter;
       if (leading) needs = n.needsWhitespaceBefore;
       lines += needs(node, parent);
+
+      // generated nodes can't add starting file whitespace
+      if (!self.buffer.get()) lines = 0;
     }
 
     self.newline(lines);