diff --git a/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/BUCK b/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/BUCK
index 63c5767c9ac..329b70c69bc 100644
--- a/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/BUCK
+++ b/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/BUCK
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ fb_xplat_cxx_test(
     deps = [
         "//xplat/folly:molly",
         "//xplat/js/react-native-github/ReactCommon/react/renderer/element:element",
+        react_native_xplat_target("react/debug:debug"),
         react_native_xplat_target("react/renderer/components/view:view"),
         react_native_xplat_target("react/renderer/components/scrollview:scrollview"),
         react_native_xplat_target("react/renderer/components/text:text"),
diff --git a/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/Sealable.cpp b/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/Sealable.cpp
index d2e6fc46432..2326a4ed7b2 100644
--- a/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/Sealable.cpp
+++ b/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/Sealable.cpp
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 #include "Sealable.h"
 
+#include <react/debug/flags.h>
 #include <react/debug/react_native_assert.h>
 
 namespace facebook {
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@ namespace react {
  * http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/rule_of_three
  */
 
-#ifndef NDEBUG
+#ifdef REACT_NATIVE_DEBUG
 
 Sealable::Sealable() : sealed_(false) {}
 
diff --git a/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/Sealable.h b/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/Sealable.h
index 2ca6f64aa65..f57c42eda5a 100644
--- a/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/Sealable.h
+++ b/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/Sealable.h
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 
 #include <atomic>
 
+#include <react/debug/flags.h>
+
 namespace facebook {
 namespace react {
 
@@ -42,8 +44,9 @@ namespace react {
  *      must be prevented.
  */
 
-#ifdef NDEBUG
+#ifndef REACT_NATIVE_DEBUG
 
+// Release-mode, production version
 class Sealable {
  public:
   inline void seal() const {}
@@ -55,6 +58,7 @@ class Sealable {
 
 #else
 
+// Debug version
 class Sealable {
  public:
   Sealable();
diff --git a/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/tests/RawPropsTest.cpp b/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/tests/RawPropsTest.cpp
index 48a8726662b..7bb589914ed 100644
--- a/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/tests/RawPropsTest.cpp
+++ b/ReactCommon/react/renderer/core/tests/RawPropsTest.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include <memory>
 
 #include <gtest/gtest.h>
+#include <react/debug/flags.h>
 #include <react/renderer/core/ConcreteShadowNode.h>
 #include <react/renderer/core/ShadowNode.h>
 #include <react/renderer/core/propsConversions.h>
@@ -275,7 +276,7 @@ TEST(RawPropsTest, handleRawPropsPrimitiveTypesIncomplete) {
   EXPECT_EQ((int)*raw.at("intValue", nullptr, nullptr), 42);
 }
 
-#ifndef NDEBUG
+#ifdef REACT_NATIVE_DEBUG
 TEST(RawPropsTest, handleRawPropsPrimitiveTypesIncorrectLookup) {
   const auto &raw = RawProps(folly::dynamic::object("intValue", (int)42));