diff --git a/IPython/html/widgets/widget_float.py b/IPython/html/widgets/widget_float.py
index cad915e..7ddcd90 100644
--- a/IPython/html/widgets/widget_float.py
+++ b/IPython/html/widgets/widget_float.py
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ class _BoundedFloatWidget(_FloatWidget):
     def __init__(self, *pargs, **kwargs):
         """Constructor"""
         DOMWidget.__init__(self, *pargs, **kwargs)
+        self._validate('value', None, self.value)
         self.on_trait_change(self._validate, ['value', 'min', 'max'])
 
     def _validate(self, name, old, new):