diff --git a/serde/src/de/content.rs b/serde/src/de/content.rs
index 7b27fdd6..3ed6d3ce 100644
--- a/serde/src/de/content.rs
+++ b/serde/src/de/content.rs
@@ -570,7 +570,8 @@ impl<E> Deserializer for ContentDeserializer<E>
 }
 
 impl<E> ContentDeserializer<E> {
-    fn new(content: Content) -> Self {
+    /// private API, don't use
+    pub fn new(content: Content) -> Self {
         ContentDeserializer {
             content: content,
             err: PhantomData,
@@ -655,7 +656,8 @@ impl<'a, E> Deserializer for ContentRefDeserializer<'a, E>
 }
 
 impl<'a, E> ContentRefDeserializer<'a, E> {
-    fn new(content: &'a Content) -> Self {
+    /// private API, don't use
+    pub fn new(content: &'a Content) -> Self {
         ContentRefDeserializer {
             content: content,
             err: PhantomData,
diff --git a/serde/src/de/private.rs b/serde/src/de/private.rs
index 750eecdc..566c4b11 100644
--- a/serde/src/de/private.rs
+++ b/serde/src/de/private.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ use de::{Deserialize, Deserializer, Error, Visitor};
 #[cfg(any(feature = "std", feature = "collections"))]
 pub use de::content::{
     Content,
+    ContentRefDeserializer,
+    ContentDeserializer,
     TaggedContentVisitor,
     InternallyTaggedUnitVisitor,
     UntaggedUnitVisitor,
diff --git a/serde_derive/src/de.rs b/serde_derive/src/de.rs
index b72d78ad..95abd5f0 100644
--- a/serde_derive/src/de.rs
+++ b/serde_derive/src/de.rs
@@ -704,7 +704,7 @@ fn deserialize_internally_tagged_enum(
                 ty.clone(),
                 variant,
                 item_attrs,
-                quote!(_tagged.content),
+                quote!(_serde::de::private::ContentDeserializer::<__D::Error>::new(_tagged.content)),
             );
 
             quote! {
@@ -719,7 +719,7 @@ fn deserialize_internally_tagged_enum(
 
         let _tagged = try!(_serde::Deserializer::deserialize(
             deserializer,
-            _serde::de::private::TaggedContentVisitor::<__Field, __D::Error>::new(#tag)));
+            _serde::de::private::TaggedContentVisitor::<__Field>::new(#tag)));
 
         match _tagged.tag {
             #(#variant_arms)*
@@ -743,7 +743,7 @@ fn deserialize_untagged_enum(
                 ty.clone(),
                 variant,
                 item_attrs,
-                quote!(&_content),
+                quote!(_serde::de::private::ContentRefDeserializer::<__D::Error>::new(&_content)),
             )
         });
 
@@ -756,7 +756,7 @@ fn deserialize_untagged_enum(
     let fallthrough_msg = format!("data did not match any variant of untagged enum {}", type_ident);
 
     quote!({
-        let _content = try!(<_serde::de::private::Content<__D::Error> as _serde::Deserialize>::deserialize(deserializer));
+        let _content = try!(<_serde::de::private::Content as _serde::Deserialize>::deserialize(deserializer));
 
         #(
             if let _serde::export::Ok(ok) = #attempts {