diff --git a/src/test/subscription/t/001_rep_changes.pl b/src/test/subscription/t/001_rep_changes.pl
index 9ca0acb6cb..47c9580f71 100644
--- a/src/test/subscription/t/001_rep_changes.pl
+++ b/src/test/subscription/t/001_rep_changes.pl
@@ -256,28 +256,30 @@ is( $result, qq(11.11|baz|1
 	'update works with dropped subscriber column');
 
 # check that change of connection string and/or publication list causes
-# restart of subscription workers. Not all of these are registered as tests
-# as we need to poll for a change but the test suite will fail none the less
-# when something goes wrong.
+# restart of subscription workers. We check the state along with
+# application_name to ensure that the walsender is (re)started.
+#
+# Not all of these are registered as tests as we need to poll for a change
+# but the test suite will fail none the less when something goes wrong.
 my $oldpid = $node_publisher->safe_psql('postgres',
-	"SELECT pid FROM pg_stat_replication WHERE application_name = '$appname';"
+	"SELECT pid FROM pg_stat_replication WHERE application_name = '$appname' AND state = 'streaming';"
 );
 $node_subscriber->safe_psql('postgres',
 	"ALTER SUBSCRIPTION tap_sub CONNECTION 'application_name=$appname $publisher_connstr'"
 );
 $node_publisher->poll_query_until('postgres',
-	"SELECT pid != $oldpid FROM pg_stat_replication WHERE application_name = '$appname';"
-) or die "Timed out while waiting for apply to restart";
+	"SELECT pid != $oldpid FROM pg_stat_replication WHERE application_name = '$appname' AND state = 'streaming';"
+) or die "Timed out while waiting for apply to restart after changing CONNECTION";
 
 $oldpid = $node_publisher->safe_psql('postgres',
-	"SELECT pid FROM pg_stat_replication WHERE application_name = '$appname';"
+	"SELECT pid FROM pg_stat_replication WHERE application_name = '$appname' AND state = 'streaming';"
 );
 $node_subscriber->safe_psql('postgres',
 	"ALTER SUBSCRIPTION tap_sub SET PUBLICATION tap_pub_ins_only WITH (copy_data = false)"
 );
 $node_publisher->poll_query_until('postgres',
-	"SELECT pid != $oldpid FROM pg_stat_replication WHERE application_name = '$appname';"
-) or die "Timed out while waiting for apply to restart";
+	"SELECT pid != $oldpid FROM pg_stat_replication WHERE application_name = '$appname' AND state = 'streaming';"
+) or die "Timed out while waiting for apply to restart after changing PUBLICATION";
 
 $node_publisher->safe_psql('postgres',
 	"INSERT INTO tab_ins SELECT generate_series(1001,1100)");
@@ -330,8 +332,8 @@ $oldpid = $node_publisher->safe_psql('postgres',
 $node_subscriber->safe_psql('postgres',
 	"ALTER SUBSCRIPTION tap_sub RENAME TO tap_sub_renamed");
 $node_publisher->poll_query_until('postgres',
-	"SELECT pid != $oldpid FROM pg_stat_replication WHERE application_name = '$appname';"
-) or die "Timed out while waiting for apply to restart";
+	"SELECT pid != $oldpid FROM pg_stat_replication WHERE application_name = '$appname' AND state = 'streaming';"
+) or die "Timed out while waiting for apply to restart after renaming SUBSCRIPTION";
 
 # check all the cleanup
 $node_subscriber->safe_psql('postgres', "DROP SUBSCRIPTION tap_sub_renamed");