diff --git a/src/navigation/nav-controller-base.ts b/src/navigation/nav-controller-base.ts
index 8a8be94b799..9da552d677d 100644
--- a/src/navigation/nav-controller-base.ts
+++ b/src/navigation/nav-controller-base.ts
@@ -1191,6 +1191,14 @@ export class NavControllerBase extends Ion implements NavController {
   getSecondaryIdentifier(): string {
     return null;
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the active child navigation.
+   */
+  getActiveChildNav(): any {
+    console.warn('(getActiveChildNav) is deprecated and will be removed in the next major release. Use getActiveChildNavs instead.');
+    return this._children[this._children.length - 1];
+  }
 }
 
 let ctrlIds = -1;
diff --git a/src/navigation/nav-controller.ts b/src/navigation/nav-controller.ts
index b6db46d7f18..0f02e0f0eb7 100644
--- a/src/navigation/nav-controller.ts
+++ b/src/navigation/nav-controller.ts
@@ -590,10 +590,16 @@ export abstract class NavController implements NavigationContainer {
   abstract getViews(): Array<ViewController>;
 
   /**
-   * Returns the active child navigation.
+   * Returns a list of the active child navigation.
    */
   abstract getActiveChildNavs(): any[];
 
+  /**
+   * Returns the active child navigation.
+   */
+  abstract getActiveChildNav(): any;
+
+
   /**
    * Returns if the nav controller is actively transitioning or not.
    * @return {boolean}