diff --git a/core/src/components/datetime-button/datetime-button.tsx b/core/src/components/datetime-button/datetime-button.tsx
index c42fa0edd0..68b4a7ddf0 100644
--- a/core/src/components/datetime-button/datetime-button.tsx
+++ b/core/src/components/datetime-button/datetime-button.tsx
@@ -75,6 +75,18 @@ export class DatetimeButton implements ComponentInterface {
       return;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * The element reference must be an ion-datetime. Print an error
+     * if a non-datetime element was provided.
+     */
+    if (datetimeEl.tagName !== 'ION-DATETIME') {
+      printIonError(
+        `Expected an ion-datetime instance for ID '${datetime}' but received '${datetimeEl.tagName.toLowerCase()}' instead.`,
+        datetimeEl
+      );
+      return;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Since the datetime can be used in any context (overlays, accordion, etc)
      * we track when it is visible to determine when it is active.