diff --git a/lib/oga/css/lexer.rl b/lib/oga/css/lexer.rl
index 1878391..d28f6c5 100644
--- a/lib/oga/css/lexer.rl
+++ b/lib/oga/css/lexer.rl
@@ -175,9 +175,13 @@ module Oga
         op_ends_with   = '$=';
         op_in          = '*=';
         op_hyphen_in   = '|=';
-        op_child       = whitespace* '>' whitespace*;
-        op_fol_direct  = whitespace* '+' whitespace*;
-        op_fol         = whitespace* '~' whitespace*;
+
+        # Whitespace preceding these tokens is _not_ matched to make the parser
+        # rules more consistent. As such input such as " > x" will result in
+        # tokens [T_SPACE, T_CHILD, T_IDENT].
+        op_child      = '>' whitespace*;
+        op_fol_direct = '+' whitespace*;
+        op_fol        = '~' whitespace*;
 
         # Numbers
         #
diff --git a/spec/oga/css/lexer/axes_spec.rb b/spec/oga/css/lexer/axes_spec.rb
index 9043aff..2d137e9 100644
--- a/spec/oga/css/lexer/axes_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/oga/css/lexer/axes_spec.rb
@@ -6,24 +6,51 @@ describe Oga::CSS::Lexer do
       lex_css('>').should == [[:T_CHILD, nil]]
     end
 
-    example 'lex the > axis with surrounding whitespace' do
-      lex_css('>').should == [[:T_CHILD, nil]]
+    example 'lex the expression "> y"' do
+      lex_css('> y').should == [[:T_CHILD, nil], [:T_IDENT, 'y']]
+    end
+
+    example 'lex the expression "x > y"' do
+      lex_css('x > y').should == [
+        [:T_IDENT, 'x'],
+        [:T_SPACE, nil],
+        [:T_CHILD, nil],
+        [:T_IDENT, 'y']
+      ]
     end
 
     example 'lex the + axis' do
       lex_css('+').should == [[:T_FOLLOWING_DIRECT, nil]]
     end
 
-    example 'lex the + axis with surrounding whitespace' do
-      lex_css(' + ').should == [[:T_FOLLOWING_DIRECT, nil]]
+    example 'lex the expression "+ y"' do
+      lex_css('+ y').should == [[:T_FOLLOWING_DIRECT, nil], [:T_IDENT, 'y']]
+    end
+
+    example 'lex the expression "x + y"' do
+      lex_css('x + y').should == [
+        [:T_IDENT, 'x'],
+        [:T_SPACE, nil],
+        [:T_FOLLOWING_DIRECT, nil],
+        [:T_IDENT, 'y']
+      ]
     end
 
     example 'lex the ~ axis' do
       lex_css('~').should == [[:T_FOLLOWING, nil]]
     end
 
-    example 'lex the ~ axis with surrounding whitespace' do
-      lex_css(' ~ ').should == [[:T_FOLLOWING, nil]]
+    example 'lex the expression "~ y"' do
+      lex_css('~ y').should == [[:T_FOLLOWING, nil], [:T_IDENT, 'y']]
+    end
+
+    example 'lex the expression "x ~ y"' do
+      lex_css('x ~ y').should == [
+        [:T_IDENT, 'x'],
+        [:T_SPACE, nil],
+        [:T_FOLLOWING, nil],
+        [:T_IDENT, 'y']
+      ]
     end
   end
 end