diff --git a/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/context/BaseRuntimeChildDefinition.java b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/context/BaseRuntimeChildDefinition.java
index 1a681d5c93c..18b8a18b632 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/context/BaseRuntimeChildDefinition.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/context/BaseRuntimeChildDefinition.java
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ import org.hl7.fhir.instance.model.api.IBaseReference;
 
 public abstract class BaseRuntimeChildDefinition {
 
+	private BaseRuntimeChildDefinition myReplacedParentDefinition;
+
 	public abstract IAccessor getAccessor();
 
 	public abstract BaseRuntimeElementDefinition<?> getChildByName(String theName);
@@ -66,6 +68,14 @@ public abstract class BaseRuntimeChildDefinition {
 		return getClass().getSimpleName() + "[" + getElementName() + "]";
 	}
 
+	public BaseRuntimeChildDefinition getReplacedParentDefinition() {
+		return myReplacedParentDefinition;
+	}
+
+	public void setReplacedParentDefinition(BaseRuntimeChildDefinition myReplacedParentDefinition) {
+		this.myReplacedParentDefinition = myReplacedParentDefinition;
+	}
+
 	public interface IAccessor {
 		List<IBase> getValues(IBase theTarget);
 
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/context/BaseRuntimeElementCompositeDefinition.java b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/context/BaseRuntimeElementCompositeDefinition.java
index b7e658bd362..6a8be697d15 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/context/BaseRuntimeElementCompositeDefinition.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/context/BaseRuntimeElementCompositeDefinition.java
@@ -263,6 +263,7 @@ public abstract class BaseRuntimeElementCompositeDefinition<T extends IBase> ext
 			int order = childAnnotation.order();
 			boolean childIsChoiceType = false;
 			boolean orderIsReplaceParent = false;
+			BaseRuntimeChildDefinition replacedParent = null;
 			
 			if (order == Child.REPLACE_PARENT) {
 				
@@ -274,7 +275,7 @@ public abstract class BaseRuntimeElementCompositeDefinition<T extends IBase> ext
 							if (nextDef.getExtensionUrl().equals(extensionAttr.url())) {
 								orderIsReplaceParent = true;
 								order = nextEntry.getKey();
-								orderMap.remove(nextEntry.getKey());
+								replacedParent = orderMap.remove(nextEntry.getKey());
 								elementNames.remove(elementName);
 								break;
 							}
@@ -293,6 +294,7 @@ public abstract class BaseRuntimeElementCompositeDefinition<T extends IBase> ext
 							orderIsReplaceParent = true;
 							order = nextEntry.getKey();
 							BaseRuntimeDeclaredChildDefinition existing = orderMap.remove(nextEntry.getKey());
+							replacedParent = existing;
 							elementNames.remove(elementName);
 							
 							/*
@@ -450,6 +452,7 @@ public abstract class BaseRuntimeElementCompositeDefinition<T extends IBase> ext
 				
 			}
 
+			def.setReplacedParentDefinition(replacedParent);
 			orderMap.put(order, def);
 			elementNames.add(elementName);
 		}
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/parser/JsonParser.java b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/parser/JsonParser.java
index 7b124708b6c..dc2306bb17c 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/parser/JsonParser.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/parser/JsonParser.java
@@ -24,8 +24,6 @@ import ca.uhn.fhir.context.*;
 import ca.uhn.fhir.context.BaseRuntimeElementDefinition.ChildTypeEnum;
 import ca.uhn.fhir.model.api.*;
 import ca.uhn.fhir.model.api.annotation.Child;
-import ca.uhn.fhir.model.api.annotation.DatatypeDef;
-import ca.uhn.fhir.model.api.annotation.ResourceDef;
 import ca.uhn.fhir.model.base.composite.BaseCodingDt;
 import ca.uhn.fhir.model.base.composite.BaseContainedDt;
 import ca.uhn.fhir.model.primitive.IdDt;
@@ -360,8 +358,6 @@ public class JsonParser extends BaseParser implements IJsonLikeParser {
 			}
 		}
 
-		Map<String, Child> parentProfileElementMetadata = getParentProfileElementMetadata(theElement);
-
 		boolean haveWrittenExtensions = false;
 		for (CompositeChildElement nextChildElem : super.compositeChildIterator(theElement, theContainedResource, theParent, theEncodeContext)) {
 
@@ -492,8 +488,8 @@ public class JsonParser extends BaseParser implements IJsonLikeParser {
 					if (inArray) {
 						theEventWriter.endArray();
 					}
-					Child parentElementChildAnnotation = parentProfileElementMetadata.get(nextChild.getElementName());
-					if (isMultipleCardinality(nextChild.getMax()) || (parentElementChildAnnotation != null && isMultipleCardinality(parentElementChildAnnotation.max()))) {
+					BaseRuntimeChildDefinition replacedParentDefinition = nextChild.getReplacedParentDefinition();
+					if (isMultipleCardinality(nextChild.getMax()) || (replacedParentDefinition != null && isMultipleCardinality(replacedParentDefinition.getMax()))) {
 						beginArray(theEventWriter, nextChildSpecificName);
 						inArray = true;
 						encodeChildElementToStreamWriter(theResDef, theResource, theEventWriter, nextValue, childDef, null, theContainedResource, nextChildElem, force, theEncodeContext);
@@ -591,20 +587,6 @@ public class JsonParser extends BaseParser implements IJsonLikeParser {
 		return maxCardinality > 1 || maxCardinality == Child.MAX_UNLIMITED;
 	}
 
-	private Map<String, Child> getParentProfileElementMetadata(IBase theElement) {
-		Class<?> superclass = theElement.getClass().getSuperclass();
-		Map<String, Child> parentProfileElementsMetadata = new HashMap<>();
-		if(superclass.isAnnotationPresent(ResourceDef.class) || superclass.isAnnotationPresent(DatatypeDef.class)) {
-			for (Field field: superclass.getDeclaredFields()) {
-				Child childAnnotation = field.getAnnotation(Child.class);
-				if(childAnnotation != null) {
-					parentProfileElementsMetadata.put(childAnnotation.name(), childAnnotation);
-				}
-			}
-		}
-		return parentProfileElementsMetadata;
-	}
-
 	private void encodeCompositeElementToStreamWriter(RuntimeResourceDefinition theResDef, IBaseResource theResource, IBase theNextValue, JsonLikeWriter theEventWriter, boolean theContainedResource, 																	  CompositeChildElement theParent, EncodeContext theEncodeContext) throws IOException, DataFormatException {
 
 		writeCommentsPreAndPost(theNextValue, theEventWriter);