diff --git a/lib/nvme/nvme_internal.h b/lib/nvme/nvme_internal.h
index ccbc11bc4..56c0f0d5d 100644
--- a/lib/nvme/nvme_internal.h
+++ b/lib/nvme/nvme_internal.h
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ struct nvme_request {
 	 * Number of children requests still outstanding for this
 	 *  request which was split into multiple child requests.
 	 */
-	uint8_t				num_children;
+	uint16_t			num_children;
 	uint32_t			payload_size;
 
 	/**
diff --git a/lib/nvme/nvme_ns_cmd.c b/lib/nvme/nvme_ns_cmd.c
index ed02ca7ba..7f39a71f0 100644
--- a/lib/nvme/nvme_ns_cmd.c
+++ b/lib/nvme/nvme_ns_cmd.c
@@ -62,6 +62,8 @@ nvme_cb_complete_child(void *child_arg, const struct spdk_nvme_cpl *cpl)
 static void
 nvme_request_add_child(struct nvme_request *parent, struct nvme_request *child)
 {
+	assert(parent->num_children != UINT16_MAX);
+
 	if (parent->num_children == 0) {
 		/*
 		 * Defer initialization of the children TAILQ since it falls