diff --git a/src/headless/converse-chatboxes.js b/src/headless/converse-chatboxes.js
index 51e3d3352..828938677 100644
--- a/src/headless/converse-chatboxes.js
+++ b/src/headless/converse-chatboxes.js
@@ -395,6 +395,15 @@ converse.plugins.add('converse-chatboxes', {
                 }
             },
 
+            getMostRecentMessage () {
+                for (var i=this.messages.length-1; i>=0; i--) {
+                    const message = this.messages.at(i);
+                    if (message.get('type') === this.get('message_type')) {
+                        return message;
+                    }
+                }
+            },
+
             getUpdatedMessageAttributes (message, stanza) {
                 // Overridden in converse-muc and converse-mam
                 return {};
diff --git a/src/headless/converse-mam.js b/src/headless/converse-mam.js
index 54beb0738..f8d9f923e 100644
--- a/src/headless/converse-mam.js
+++ b/src/headless/converse-mam.js
@@ -73,17 +73,16 @@ converse.plugins.add('converse-mam', {
                 if (this.disable_mam) {
                     return;
                 }
-                const most_recent_msg = u.getMostRecentMessage(this);
-
-                if (!most_recent_msg) {
-                    this.fetchArchivedMessages({'before': ''});
-                } else {
+                const most_recent_msg = this.getMostRecentMessage();
+                if (most_recent_msg) {
                     const stanza_id = most_recent_msg.get(`stanza_id ${this.get('jid')}`);
                     if (stanza_id) {
                         this.fetchArchivedMessages({'after': stanza_id}, 'forwards');
                     } else {
                         this.fetchArchivedMessages({'start': most_recent_msg.get('time')}, 'forwards');
                     }
+                } else {
+                    this.fetchArchivedMessages({'before': ''});
                 }
             },
 
diff --git a/src/headless/utils/core.js b/src/headless/utils/core.js
index d1aebeb9a..4c7bfc3b7 100644
--- a/src/headless/utils/core.js
+++ b/src/headless/utils/core.js
@@ -98,11 +98,6 @@ u.isSameBareJID = function (jid1, jid2) {
             Strophe.getBareJidFromJid(jid2).toLowerCase();
 };
 
-u.getMostRecentMessage = function (model) {
-    const messages = model.messages.filter('message');
-    return messages[messages.length-1];
-}
-
 u.isNewMessage = function (message) {
     /* Given a stanza, determine whether it's a new
      * message, i.e. not a MAM archived one.