diff --git a/cmsg_private.h b/cmsg_private.h
index 37fc507..48e3412 100644
--- a/cmsg_private.h
+++ b/cmsg_private.h
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ typedef struct cmsg_bytes_t {
   void *bytes;
 } cmsg_bytes_t;
 
-#define EMPTY_BYTES ((cmsg_bytes_t) { NULL, 0 })
+#define EMPTY_BYTES ((cmsg_bytes_t) { .len = 0, .bytes = NULL })
 
 extern cmsg_bytes_t cmsg_cstring_bytes(char const *cstr);
 extern cmsg_bytes_t cmsg_bytes_malloc_dup(cmsg_bytes_t src);