diff --git a/lightningd/lightningd.c b/lightningd/lightningd.c
index 4727e679a..a73017835 100644
--- a/lightningd/lightningd.c
+++ b/lightningd/lightningd.c
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ static struct lightningd *new_lightningd(const tal_t *ctx)
 	 * This method of manually declaring the list hooks avoids dynamic
 	 * allocations to put things into a list. */
 	list_head_init(&ld->peers);
+	list_head_init(&ld->subds);
 
 	/*~ These are hash tables of incoming and outgoing HTLCs (contracts),
 	 * defined as `struct htlc_in` and `struct htlc_out` in htlc_end.h.
@@ -409,10 +410,8 @@ void test_subdaemons(const struct lightningd *ld)
 		    || verstring[strlen(version())] != '\n')
 			errx(1, "%s: bad version '%s'",
 			     subdaemons[i], verstring);
-
-		/*~ finally reap the child process, freeing all OS
-		 *  resources that go with it */
-		waitpid(pid, NULL, 0);
+		/*~ The child will be reaped by sigchld_rfd_in, so we don't
+		 * need to waitpid() here. */
 	}
 }
 
@@ -784,9 +783,13 @@ static struct io_plan *sigchld_rfd_in(struct io_conn *conn,
 	/* We don't actually care what we read, so we stuff things here. */
 	static u8 ignorebuf;
 	static size_t len;
+	pid_t childpid;
+	int wstatus;
 
 	/* Reap the plugins, since we otherwise ignore them. */
-	while (waitpid(-1, NULL, WNOHANG) != 0);
+	while ((childpid = waitpid(-1, &wstatus, WNOHANG)) != 0) {
+		maybe_subd_child(ld, childpid, wstatus);
+	}
 
 	return io_read_partial(conn, &ignorebuf, 1, &len, sigchld_rfd_in, ld);
 }
diff --git a/lightningd/lightningd.h b/lightningd/lightningd.h
index 8f870dbf7..25a5db475 100644
--- a/lightningd/lightningd.h
+++ b/lightningd/lightningd.h
@@ -202,6 +202,9 @@ struct lightningd {
 	/* RPC response to send once we've shut down. */
 	const char *stop_response;
 
+	/* All the subdaemons. */
+	struct list_head subds;
+
 	/* Used these feerates instead of whatever bcli returns (up to
 	 * FEERATE_PENALTY). */
 	u32 *force_feerates;
diff --git a/lightningd/subd.c b/lightningd/subd.c
index 36c836308..81614f8d1 100644
--- a/lightningd/subd.c
+++ b/lightningd/subd.c
@@ -21,6 +21,16 @@
 #include <wire/common_wiregen.h>
 #include <wire/wire_io.h>
 
+void maybe_subd_child(struct lightningd *ld, int childpid, int wstatus)
+{
+	struct subd *sd;
+
+	list_for_each(&ld->subds, sd, list) {
+		if (sd->pid == childpid)
+			sd->wstatus = tal_dup(sd, int, &wstatus);
+	}
+}
+
 /* Carefully move fd *@from to @to: on success *from set to to */
 static bool move_fd(int *from, int to)
 {
@@ -580,24 +590,30 @@ static void destroy_subd(struct subd *sd)
 	bool fail_if_subd_fails;
 
 	fail_if_subd_fails = IFDEV(sd->ld->dev_subdaemon_fail, false);
+	list_del_from(&sd->ld->subds, &sd->list);
 
-	switch (waitpid(sd->pid, &status, WNOHANG)) {
-	case 0:
-		/* If it's an essential daemon, don't kill: we want the
-		 * exit status */
-		if (!sd->must_not_exit) {
-			log_debug(sd->log,
-				  "Status closed, but not exited. Killing");
-			kill(sd->pid, SIGKILL);
+	/* lightningd may have already done waitpid() */
+	if (sd->wstatus != NULL) {
+		status = *sd->wstatus;
+	} else {
+		switch (waitpid(sd->pid, &status, WNOHANG)) {
+		case 0:
+			/* If it's an essential daemon, don't kill: we want the
+			 * exit status */
+			if (!sd->must_not_exit) {
+				log_debug(sd->log,
+					  "Status closed, but not exited. Killing");
+				kill(sd->pid, SIGKILL);
+			}
+			waitpid(sd->pid, &status, 0);
+			fail_if_subd_fails = false;
+			break;
+		case -1:
+			log_broken(sd->log, "Status closed, but waitpid %i says %s",
+				   sd->pid, strerror(errno));
+			status = -1;
+			break;
 		}
-		waitpid(sd->pid, &status, 0);
-		fail_if_subd_fails = false;
-		break;
-	case -1:
-		log_unusual(sd->log, "Status closed, but waitpid %i says %s",
-			    sd->pid, strerror(errno));
-		status = -1;
-		break;
 	}
 
 	if (fail_if_subd_fails && WIFSIGNALED(status)) {
@@ -742,6 +758,8 @@ static struct subd *new_subd(struct lightningd *ld,
 	sd->billboardcb = billboardcb;
 	sd->fds_in = NULL;
 	sd->outq = msg_queue_new(sd, true);
+	sd->wstatus = NULL;
+	list_add(&ld->subds, &sd->list);
 	tal_add_destructor(sd, destroy_subd);
 	list_head_init(&sd->reqs);
 	sd->channel = channel;
@@ -868,6 +886,7 @@ struct subd *subd_shutdown(struct subd *sd, unsigned int seconds)
 	if (waitpid(sd->pid, NULL, 0) > 0) {
 		alarm(0);
 		sigaction(SIGALRM, &old, NULL);
+		list_del_from(&sd->ld->subds, &sd->list);
 		return tal_free(sd);
 	}
 
diff --git a/lightningd/subd.h b/lightningd/subd.h
index 4be12e248..564b2f35f 100644
--- a/lightningd/subd.h
+++ b/lightningd/subd.h
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ struct peer_fd;
 
 /* One of our subds. */
 struct subd {
+	/* Inside ld->subds */
+	struct list_node list;
+
 	/* Name, like John, or "lightning_hsmd" */
 	const char *name;
 	/* The Big Cheese. */
@@ -74,6 +77,9 @@ struct subd {
 
 	/* Callbacks for replies. */
 	struct list_head reqs;
+
+	/* Did lightningd already wait for this pid? */
+	int *wstatus;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -219,6 +225,9 @@ struct subd *subd_shutdown(struct subd *subd, unsigned int seconds);
 /* Ugly helper to get full pathname of the current binary. */
 const char *find_my_abspath(const tal_t *ctx, const char *argv0);
 
+/* lightningd captures SIGCHLD and waits, but so does subd. */
+void maybe_subd_child(struct lightningd *ld, int childpid, int wstatus);
+
 #if DEVELOPER
 char *opt_subd_dev_disconnect(const char *optarg, struct lightningd *ld);