diff --git a/xmlsitemap.xmlsitemap.inc b/xmlsitemap.xmlsitemap.inc
index 2a8ee92..5d4fadd 100644
--- a/xmlsitemap.xmlsitemap.inc
+++ b/xmlsitemap.xmlsitemap.inc
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ class XMLSitemapWriter extends XMLWriter {
    *
    * @todo Missing a return value since XMLWriter::writeElement() has one.
    */
-  public function writeElement($name, $data = NULL) {
+  public function writeElement($name, $data = array()) {
     if (is_string($data)) {
       $data = array('content' => $data);
     }
@@ -160,10 +160,9 @@ class XMLSitemapWriter extends XMLWriter {
     }
     else {
       $this->startElement($name);
-      $xml_content = format_xml_elements($data);
-      // Remove additional spaces from the output.
-      $xml_content = str_replace(array(" <", ">\n"), array("<", ">"), $xml_content);
-      $this->writeRaw($xml_content);
+      foreach ($data as $sub_name => $sub_content) {
+        $this->writeElement($sub_name, $sub_content);
+      }
       $this->endElement();
     }
   }