diff --git a/Libraries/Lists/VirtualizedList.js b/Libraries/Lists/VirtualizedList.js
index 9009b58c172..fec790df30f 100644
--- a/Libraries/Lists/VirtualizedList.js
+++ b/Libraries/Lists/VirtualizedList.js
@@ -972,7 +972,12 @@ class VirtualizedList extends React.PureComponent<OptionalProps, Props, State> {
         (velocity < -2 && distTop < scrollingThreshold) ||
         (velocity > 2 && distBottom < scrollingThreshold);
     }
-    if (hiPri) {
+    // Only trigger high-priority updates if we've actually rendered cells,
+    // and with that size estimate, accurately compute how many cells we should render.
+    // Otherwise, it would just render as many cells as it can (of zero dimension),
+    // each time through attempting to render more (limited by maxToRenderPerBatch),
+    // starving the renderer from actually laying out the objects and computing _averageCellLength.
+    if (hiPri && this._averageCellLength) {
       // Don't worry about interactions when scrolling quickly; focus on filling content as fast
       // as possible.
       this._updateCellsToRenderBatcher.dispose({abort: true});