diff --git a/reference/simplexml/simplexmlelement/children.xml b/reference/simplexml/simplexmlelement/children.xml
index 471e2e0241..6e02d07325 100644
--- a/reference/simplexml/simplexmlelement/children.xml
+++ b/reference/simplexml/simplexmlelement/children.xml
@@ -175,7 +175,8 @@ int(1)
    <methodname>SimpleXMLElement::children</methodname> returns a node 
    object no matter if the current node has children or not. Use
    <function>count</function> on the return value to see if there are any
-   children.
+   children. As of PHP 5.3.0, <methodname>SimpleXMLElement::count</methodname>
+   may be used instead.
   </simpara>
  </refsect1>
  
@@ -183,6 +184,7 @@ int(1)
   &reftitle.seealso;
   <para>
    <simplelist>
+    <member><methodname>SimpleXMLElement::count</methodname></member>
     <member><function>count</function></member>
    </simplelist>
   </para>
diff --git a/reference/simplexml/simplexmlelement/count.xml b/reference/simplexml/simplexmlelement/count.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..de0d04df7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/reference/simplexml/simplexmlelement/count.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!-- $Revision$ -->
+
+<refentry xml:id="simplexmlelement.count" xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
+ <refnamediv>
+  <refname>SimpleXMLElement::count</refname>
+  <refpurpose>Counts the children of an element</refpurpose>
+ </refnamediv>
+ 
+ <refsect1 role="description">
+  &reftitle.description;
+  <methodsynopsis>
+   <type>integer</type><methodname>SimpleXMLElement::count</methodname>
+   <void />
+  </methodsynopsis>
+  <para>
+   This method counts the number of children of an element.
+  </para>
+ </refsect1>
+ 
+ <refsect1 role="returnvalues">
+  &reftitle.returnvalues;
+  <para>
+   Returns the number of elements of an element.
+  </para>
+ </refsect1>
+ 
+ <refsect1 role="examples">
+  &reftitle.examples;
+  <para>
+   <example>
+    <title>Counting the number of children</title>
+    <programlisting role="php">
+<![CDATA[
+$xml = <<<EOF
+<people>
+ <person name="Person 1">
+  <child/>
+  <child/>
+  <child/>
+ </person>
+ <person name="Person 2">
+  <child/>
+  <child/>
+  <child/>
+  <child/>
+  <child/>
+ </person>
+</people>
+EOF;
+
+$elem = new SimpleXMLElement($xml);
+
+foreach ($elem as $person) {
+    printf("%s has got %d children.\n", $person['name'], $person->count());
+}
+?>
+]]>
+    </programlisting>
+    &example.outputs;
+    <screen>
+<![CDATA[
+Person 1 has got 3 children.
+Person 2 has got 5 children.
+]]>
+    </screen>
+   </example>
+  </para>
+ </refsect1>
+ 
+ <refsect1 role="seealso">
+  &reftitle.seealso;
+  <para>
+   <simplelist>
+    <member><methodname>SimpleXMLElement::children</methodname></member>
+   </simplelist>
+  </para>
+ </refsect1>
+</refentry>
+ 
+<!-- Keep this comment at the end of the file
+Local variables:
+mode: sgml
+sgml-omittag:t
+sgml-shorttag:t
+sgml-minimize-attributes:nil
+sgml-always-quote-attributes:t
+sgml-indent-step:1
+sgml-indent-data:t
+indent-tabs-mode:nil
+sgml-parent-document:nil
+sgml-default-dtd-file:"~/.phpdoc/manual.ced"
+sgml-exposed-tags:nil
+sgml-local-catalogs:nil
+sgml-local-ecat-files:nil
+End:
+vim600: syn=xml fen fdm=syntax fdl=2 si
+vim: et tw=78 syn=sgml
+vi: ts=1 sw=1
+-->
+
diff --git a/reference/simplexml/versions.xml b/reference/simplexml/versions.xml
index 09b8c6f022..a1f1a1942f 100644
--- a/reference/simplexml/versions.xml
+++ b/reference/simplexml/versions.xml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
  <function name='simplexmlelement::asxml' from='PHP 5 &gt;= 5.0.1'/>
  <function name='simplexmlelement::attributes' from='PHP 5 &gt;= 5.0.1'/>
  <function name='simplexmlelement::children' from='PHP 5 &gt;= 5.0.1'/>
+ <function name='simplexmlelement::count' from='PHP 5 &gt;= 5.3.0'/>
  <function name='simplexmlelement::getdocnamespaces' from='PHP 5 &gt;= 5.1.2'/>
  <function name='simplexmlelement::getname' from='PHP 5 &gt;= 5.1.3'/>
  <function name='simplexmlelement::getnamespaces' from='PHP 5 &gt;= 5.1.2'/>
@@ -49,4 +50,4 @@ End:
 vim600: syn=xml fen fdm=syntax fdl=2 si
 vim: et tw=78 syn=sgml
 vi: ts=1 sw=1
--->
\ No newline at end of file
+-->