diff --git a/lib/model.js b/lib/model.js
index 6f0e334948c..ec395bf132d 100644
--- a/lib/model.js
+++ b/lib/model.js
@@ -92,11 +92,11 @@ Model.prototype._getPopulationKeys = function getPopulationKeys (query) {
         // loop until we find an array schema
         if (pathSchema && pathSchema.caster) {
           if (!paths[path]) {
-            paths[path] = query.options.populate[name];
+            paths[path] = {};
             paths[path].sub = {};
           }
 
-          paths[path].sub[pieces.slice(i).join('.')] = 1;
+          paths[path].sub[pieces.slice(i).join('.')] = query.options.populate[name];
           hasKeys || (hasKeys = true);
           break;
         }
@@ -229,8 +229,9 @@ Model.prototype.init = function init (doc, query, fn) {
             key = pkeys[pi];
 
             if (subobj[key]) (function (key) {
+
               total++;
-              self._populate(schema.schema.path(key), subobj[key], poppath, done);
+              self._populate(schema.schema.path(key), subobj[key], poppath.sub[key], done);
               function done (err, doc) {
                 if (err) return error(err);
                 subobj[key] = doc;
diff --git a/test/model.ref.test.js b/test/model.ref.test.js
index df1822efcd3..c59cd4147d2 100644
--- a/test/model.ref.test.js
+++ b/test/model.ref.test.js
@@ -1106,6 +1106,72 @@ module.exports = {
     });
   },
 
+  'populating multiple children of a sub-array at a time': function () {
+    var db = start()
+      , User = db.model('RefUser', users)
+      , BlogPost = db.model('RefBlogPost', posts)
+      , Inner = new Schema({
+            user: { type: ObjectId, ref: 'RefUser' }
+          , post: { type: ObjectId, ref: 'RefBlogPost' }
+        })
+      , I = db.model('PopMultiChildrenOfSubDocInner', Inner)
+    var M = db.model('PopMultiChildrenOfSubDoc', new Schema({
+            kids: [Inner]
+        }))
+
+    User.create({
+        name   : 'Fan 1'
+      , email  : 'fan1@learnboost.com'
+      , gender : 'male'
+    }, {
+        name   : 'Fan 2'
+      , email  : 'fan2@learnboost.com'
+      , gender : 'female'
+    }, function (err, fan1, fan2) {
+      should.strictEqual(err, null);
+
+      BlogPost.create({
+          title     : 'woot'
+      }, {
+          title     : 'yay'
+      }, function (err, post1, post2) {
+        should.strictEqual(err, null);
+          M.create({
+            kids: [
+                { user: fan1, post: post1, y: 5 }
+              , { user: fan2, post: post2, y: 8 }
+            ]
+          , x: 4
+          }, function (err, m1) {
+          should.strictEqual(err, null);
+
+          M.where('_id').in([m1])
+          .populate('kids.user', ["name"])
+          .populate('kids.post', ["title"], { title: "woot" })
+          .run(function (err, objs) {
+            db.close();
+            should.strictEqual(err, null);
+
+            should.exist(objs);
+            should.strictEqual(objs.length, 1);
+            var o = objs[0];
+            should.exist(o.kids);
+            should.strictEqual(o.kids.length, 2);
+            var k1 = o.kids[0];
+            var k2 = o.kids[1];
+            should.exist(k1.user);
+            should.exist(k1.post);
+            should.exist(k2.user);
+            should.not.exist(k2.post);
+            should.strictEqual(k1.user.name, "Fan 1");
+            should.strictEqual(k1.post.title, "woot");
+            should.strictEqual(k2.user.name, "Fan 2");
+          });
+        });
+      });
+    });
+  },
+
   'passing sort options to the populate method': function () {
     var db = start()
       , P = db.model('RefBlogPost', posts)