diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 0906cccbca..44fe0d443d 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 
   + Avoid normalizing newlines inside quoted strings `{|...|}` (#1754, @nojb, @hhugo)
 
+  + Add missing normalization of code spans in docstrings (#1736, @jberdine)
+
 #### Changes
 
 #### New features
diff --git a/lib/Fmt.mli b/lib/Fmt.mli
index d53ef983c1..cc6bd064c3 100644
--- a/lib/Fmt.mli
+++ b/lib/Fmt.mli
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ type s = (unit, Format.formatter, unit) format
 type t
 
 type sp =
-  | Blank  (** [ ] *)
+  | Blank  (** [ ] *)
   | Cut  (** [@,] *)
-  | Space  (** [@ ] *)
+  | Space  (** [@ ] *)
   | Break of int * int  (** [@;] *)
 
 val sp : sp -> t
diff --git a/lib/Fmt_odoc.ml b/lib/Fmt_odoc.ml
index 0b0c088acf..b6fe268e5b 100644
--- a/lib/Fmt_odoc.ml
+++ b/lib/Fmt_odoc.ml
@@ -89,7 +89,8 @@ let fmt_code_block conf s1 s2 =
       let box = match lines with _ :: _ :: _ -> vbox 0 | _ -> hvbox 0 in
       box (wrap_code (vbox 0 (list_fl lines fmt_line)))
 
-let fmt_code_span s = hovbox 0 (wrap "[" "]" (str (escape_brackets s)))
+let fmt_code_span s =
+  hovbox 0 (wrap "[" "]" (str_normalized ~escape:escape_brackets s))
 
 let fmt_reference = ign_loc ~f:str_normalized
 
diff --git a/test/passing/tests/doc_comments-no-wrap.mli.ref b/test/passing/tests/doc_comments-no-wrap.mli.ref
index c296d80b13..808710a061 100644
--- a/test/passing/tests/doc_comments-no-wrap.mli.ref
+++ b/test/passing/tests/doc_comments-no-wrap.mli.ref
@@ -344,12 +344,12 @@ end
 
 (** {%html:<p>Raw markup</p>%} {%Without language%} {%other:Other language%} *)
 
-(** [Multi
-     Line]
+(** [Multi Line]
 
-    [ A lot of    spaces ]
+    [A lot of spaces]
 
-    [Very looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong] *)
+    [Very
+    looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong] *)
 
 (** {[
       for i = 1 to 3 do
@@ -411,7 +411,7 @@ end
 (** This is a comment with code inside
 
     {[
-      (** This is a comment with code inside [ let code inside = f inside ] *)
+      (** This is a comment with code inside [let code inside = f inside] *)
       let code inside (* comment   *) = f inside
     ]} *)
 
@@ -496,7 +496,7 @@ val k : int
 
 (**  *)
 
-(** [trim "  "] is [""] *)
+(** [trim " "] is [""] *)
 
 (** [trms (c × (Σᵢ₌₁ⁿ cᵢ × Πⱼ₌₁ᵐᵢ Xᵢⱼ^pᵢⱼ))] is the sequence of terms [Xᵢⱼ]
     for each [i] and [j]. *)
diff --git a/test/passing/tests/doc_comments.mli.ref b/test/passing/tests/doc_comments.mli.ref
index 76acdbd8db..9c71bbcf9d 100644
--- a/test/passing/tests/doc_comments.mli.ref
+++ b/test/passing/tests/doc_comments.mli.ref
@@ -344,12 +344,12 @@ end
 
 (** {%html:<p>Raw markup</p>%} {%Without language%} {%other:Other language%} *)
 
-(** [Multi
-     Line]
+(** [Multi Line]
 
-    [ A lot of    spaces ]
+    [A lot of spaces]
 
-    [Very looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong] *)
+    [Very
+    looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong] *)
 
 (** {[
       for i = 1 to 3 do
@@ -411,7 +411,7 @@ end
 (** This is a comment with code inside
 
     {[
-      (** This is a comment with code inside [ let code inside = f inside ] *)
+      (** This is a comment with code inside [let code inside = f inside] *)
       let code inside (* comment *) = f inside
     ]} *)
 
@@ -496,7 +496,7 @@ val k : int
 
 (**  *)
 
-(** [trim "  "] is [""] *)
+(** [trim " "] is [""] *)
 
 (** [trms (c × (Σᵢ₌₁ⁿ cᵢ × Πⱼ₌₁ᵐᵢ Xᵢⱼ^pᵢⱼ))] is the sequence of terms [Xᵢⱼ]
     for each [i] and [j]. *)