diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 9584f358b443..fd72de9a736e 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -1640,7 +1640,6 @@ static void __init deferred_free_pages(unsigned long pfn,
 		} else if (!(pfn & nr_pgmask)) {
 			deferred_free_range(pfn - nr_free, nr_free);
 			nr_free = 1;
-			touch_nmi_watchdog();
 		} else {
 			nr_free++;
 		}
@@ -1670,7 +1669,6 @@ static unsigned long  __init deferred_init_pages(struct zone *zone,
 			continue;
 		} else if (!page || !(pfn & nr_pgmask)) {
 			page = pfn_to_page(pfn);
-			touch_nmi_watchdog();
 		} else {
 			page++;
 		}
@@ -1817,8 +1815,10 @@ static int __init deferred_init_memmap(void *data)
 	 * that we can avoid introducing any issues with the buddy
 	 * allocator.
 	 */
-	while (spfn < epfn)
+	while (spfn < epfn) {
 		nr_pages += deferred_init_maxorder(&i, zone, &spfn, &epfn);
+		touch_nmi_watchdog();
+	}
 zone_empty:
 	/* Sanity check that the next zone really is unpopulated */
 	WARN_ON(++zid < MAX_NR_ZONES && populated_zone(++zone));
@@ -1889,6 +1889,7 @@ deferred_grow_zone(struct zone *zone, unsigned int order)
 		first_deferred_pfn = spfn;
 
 		nr_pages += deferred_init_maxorder(&i, zone, &spfn, &epfn);
+		touch_nmi_watchdog();
 
 		/* We should only stop along section boundaries */
 		if ((first_deferred_pfn ^ spfn) < PAGES_PER_SECTION)