diff --git a/Modules/cStringIO.c b/Modules/cStringIO.c
index 2085696..5834e20 100644
--- a/Modules/cStringIO.c
+++ b/Modules/cStringIO.c
@@ -514,8 +514,7 @@
 PyDoc_STRVAR(Otype__doc__, "Simple type for output to strings.");
 
 static PyTypeObject Otype = {
-  PyObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL)
-  0,	       			/*ob_size*/
+  PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL, 0)
   "cStringIO.StringO",   	/*tp_name*/
   sizeof(Oobject),       	/*tp_basicsize*/
   0,	       			/*tp_itemsize*/
@@ -635,8 +634,7 @@
 "Simple type for treating strings as input file streams");
 
 static PyTypeObject Itype = {
-  PyObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL)
-  0,					/*ob_size*/
+  PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL, 0)
   "cStringIO.StringI",			/*tp_name*/
   sizeof(Iobject),			/*tp_basicsize*/
   0,					/*tp_itemsize*/
@@ -746,8 +744,8 @@
   d = PyModule_GetDict(m);
   
   /* Export C API */
-  Itype.ob_type=&PyType_Type;
-  Otype.ob_type=&PyType_Type;
+  Py_Type(&Itype)=&PyType_Type;
+  Py_Type(&Otype)=&PyType_Type;
   if (PyType_Ready(&Otype) < 0) return;
   if (PyType_Ready(&Itype) < 0) return;
   PyDict_SetItemString(d,"cStringIO_CAPI",