diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/components/view/YogaLayoutableShadowNode.cpp b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/components/view/YogaLayoutableShadowNode.cpp
index 2fe7f96c02ab..62fcfb42928c 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/components/view/YogaLayoutableShadowNode.cpp
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/components/view/YogaLayoutableShadowNode.cpp
@@ -113,14 +113,15 @@ YogaLayoutableShadowNode::YogaLayoutableShadowNode(
               .yogaNode_) == YGNodeIsDirty(&yogaNode_) &&
       "Yoga node must inherit dirty flag.");
 #endif
-  if (!getTraits().check(ShadowNodeTraits::Trait::LeafYogaNode)) {
-    for (auto& child : getChildren()) {
-      if (auto layoutableChild =
-              std::dynamic_pointer_cast<const YogaLayoutableShadowNode>(
-                  child)) {
-        yogaLayoutableChildren_.push_back(std::move(layoutableChild));
-      }
-    }
+  if (!getTraits().check(ShadowNodeTraits::Trait::LeafYogaNode) &&
+      !fragment.children) {
+    // Children unchanged: copy the filtered list directly from the source,
+    // skipping per-child dynamic_pointer_cast. When fragment.children is set,
+    // updateYogaChildren() below rebuilds the vector from the new children
+    // list — populating it here would be immediately discarded.
+    yogaLayoutableChildren_ =
+        static_cast<const YogaLayoutableShadowNode&>(sourceShadowNode)
+            .yogaLayoutableChildren_;
   }
 
   YGConfigConstRef previousConfig =
@@ -349,6 +350,7 @@ void YogaLayoutableShadowNode::updateYogaChildren() {
 
   yogaNode_.setChildren({});
   yogaLayoutableChildren_.clear();
+  yogaLayoutableChildren_.reserve(getChildren().size());
 
   for (size_t i = 0; i < getChildren().size(); i++) {
     if (auto yogaLayoutableChild =