diff --git a/django/contrib/sitemaps/__init__.py b/django/contrib/sitemaps/__init__.py
index 781ad8995d..53b375a48b 100644
--- a/django/contrib/sitemaps/__init__.py
+++ b/django/contrib/sitemaps/__init__.py
@@ -60,9 +60,7 @@ class Sitemap(object):
         return obj.get_absolute_url()
 
     def _get_paginator(self):
-        if not hasattr(self, "_paginator"):
-            self._paginator = paginator.Paginator(self.items(), self.limit)
-        return self._paginator
+        return paginator.Paginator(self.items(), self.limit)
     paginator = property(_get_paginator)
 
     def get_urls(self, page=1, site=None, protocol=None):
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.4.txt b/docs/releases/1.4.txt
index e004aefd60..e0bef0b56e 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.4.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.4.txt
@@ -1150,3 +1150,18 @@ settings file to list all your applications explicitly.
 This attribute was confusingly named ``HttpRequest.raw_post_data``, but it
 actually provided the body of the HTTP request. It's been renamed to
 ``HttpRequest.body``, and ``HttpRequest.raw_post_data`` has been deprecated.
+
+``django.contrib.sitemaps`` bugfix with potential performance implications
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+In previous versions the Paginator objects used in sitemap classes were
+cached and could result in stale sitemap indexes. Removing this cache causes
+new Paginator objects to be created and the
+:attr:`~django.contrib.sitemaps.Sitemap.items()` method of the
+:class:`~django.contrib.sitemaps.Sitemap` subclass to be called during every
+sitemap-related request.
+
+If the :attr:`django.contrib.sitemaps.Sitemap.items()` method returns a
+``QuerySet`` its length will be evaluated which may lead to extra database
+queries. To mitigate the performance impact consider using the :doc:`caching
+framework </topics/cache>`.