diff --git a/glib/gwakeup.c b/glib/gwakeup.c
index 24d85b669..a3283a3ff 100644
--- a/glib/gwakeup.c
+++ b/glib/gwakeup.c
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ g_wakeup_new (void)
   /* for any failure, try a pipe instead */
 #endif
 
-  if (!g_unix_open_pipe (wakeup->fds, FD_CLOEXEC, &error))
+  if (!g_unix_open_pipe (wakeup->fds, FD_CLOEXEC | O_NONBLOCK, &error))
     g_error ("Creating pipes for GWakeup: %s", error->message);
 
   if (!g_unix_set_fd_nonblocking (wakeup->fds[0], TRUE, &error) ||