diff --git a/src/aead/aes.rs b/src/aead/aes.rs
index a1bf4094b..2db1739f0 100644
--- a/src/aead/aes.rs
+++ b/src/aead/aes.rs
@@ -17,8 +17,10 @@ use crate::{
     constant_time,
     cpu::{self, GetFeature as _},
     error,
+    polyfill::unwrap_const,
 };
 use cfg_if::cfg_if;
+use core::num::NonZeroU32;
 
 pub(super) use ffi::Counter;
 
@@ -123,15 +125,17 @@ impl Counter {
     }
 
     pub fn increment(&mut self) -> Iv {
+        const ONE: NonZeroU32 = unwrap_const(NonZeroU32::new(1));
+
         let iv = Iv(self.0);
-        self.increment_by_less_safe(1);
+        self.increment_by_less_safe(ONE);
         iv
     }
 
-    fn increment_by_less_safe(&mut self, increment_by: u32) {
+    fn increment_by_less_safe(&mut self, increment_by: NonZeroU32) {
         let [.., c0, c1, c2, c3] = &mut self.0;
         let old_value: u32 = u32::from_be_bytes([*c0, *c1, *c2, *c3]);
-        let new_value = old_value + increment_by;
+        let new_value = old_value + increment_by.get();
         [*c0, *c1, *c2, *c3] = u32::to_be_bytes(new_value);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/aead/aes/ffi.rs b/src/aead/aes/ffi.rs
index 97c931f5c..1826124eb 100644
--- a/src/aead/aes/ffi.rs
+++ b/src/aead/aes/ffi.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 
 use super::{Block, InOut, KeyBytes, BLOCK_LEN};
 use crate::{bits::BitLength, c, error};
-use core::num::NonZeroUsize;
+use core::num::{NonZeroU32, NonZeroUsize};
 
 /// nonce || big-endian counter.
 #[repr(transparent)]
@@ -182,15 +182,14 @@ impl AES_KEY {
 
         let input: *const [u8; BLOCK_LEN] = input.cast();
         let output: *mut [u8; BLOCK_LEN] = output.cast();
-        let blocks_u32: u32 = blocks.get().try_into().unwrap();
+        let blocks_u32: NonZeroU32 = blocks.try_into().unwrap();
 
         // SAFETY:
         //  * `input` points to `blocks` blocks.
         //  * `output` points to space for `blocks` blocks to be written.
         //  * input == output.add(n), where n == src.start, and the caller is
         //    responsible for ensuing this sufficient for `f` to work correctly.
-        //  * The caller is responsible for ensuring `f` can handle any value of
-        //    `blocks` including zero.
+        //  * `blocks` is non-zero so `f` doesn't have to work for empty slices.
         //  * The caller is responsible for ensuring `key` was initialized by the
         //    `set_encrypt_key!` invocation required by `f`.
         unsafe {