diff --git a/src/ruby/end2end/prefork_postfork_loop_test.rb b/src/ruby/end2end/prefork_postfork_loop_test.rb
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000..a09f85bcc775a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ruby/end2end/prefork_postfork_loop_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env ruby
+#
+# Copyright 2016 gRPC authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+ENV['GRPC_ENABLE_FORK_SUPPORT'] = "1"
+fail "forking only supported on linux" unless RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /linux/
+
+this_dir = File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__))
+protos_lib_dir = File.join(this_dir, 'lib')
+grpc_lib_dir = File.join(File.dirname(this_dir), 'lib')
+$LOAD_PATH.unshift(grpc_lib_dir) unless $LOAD_PATH.include?(grpc_lib_dir)
+$LOAD_PATH.unshift(protos_lib_dir) unless $LOAD_PATH.include?(protos_lib_dir)
+$LOAD_PATH.unshift(this_dir) unless $LOAD_PATH.include?(this_dir)
+
+require 'grpc'
+require 'end2end_common'
+
+def main
+  10_000.times do
+    # The prefork and postfork APIs are meant to be used before and after a
+    # fork. So this is not technically correct usage of the API. However, the
+    # current implementation doesn't actually care about a "fork" call happening
+    # in between prefork and postfork_parent, and this is unlikely to change anytime
+    # soon. Also note the goal of this test is mainly to test the background thread startup
+    # and shutdown that happens in prefork and postfork_parent. If we were to actually
+    # fork in this test, it would take much longer to run.
+    GRPC.prefork
+    GRPC.postfork_parent
+  end
+end
+
+main
diff --git a/src/ruby/ext/grpc/rb_channel.c b/src/ruby/ext/grpc/rb_channel.c
index aa8fb8a6f42b7..c8b4af07b998d 100644
--- a/src/ruby/ext/grpc/rb_channel.c
+++ b/src/ruby/ext/grpc/rb_channel.c
@@ -97,8 +97,6 @@ static bg_watched_channel* bg_watched_channel_list_head = NULL;
 
 static void grpc_rb_channel_try_register_connection_polling(
     bg_watched_channel* bg);
-static void* wait_until_channel_polling_thread_started_no_gil(void*);
-static void wait_until_channel_polling_thread_started_unblocking_func(void*);
 static void* channel_init_try_register_connection_polling_without_gil(
     void* arg);
 
@@ -111,7 +109,6 @@ static grpc_completion_queue* g_channel_polling_cq;
 static gpr_mu global_connection_polling_mu;
 static gpr_cv global_connection_polling_cv;
 static int g_abort_channel_polling = 0;
-static int g_channel_polling_thread_started = 0;
 static gpr_once g_once_init = GPR_ONCE_INIT;
 static VALUE g_channel_polling_thread = Qnil;
 
@@ -224,12 +221,6 @@ static VALUE grpc_rb_channel_init(int argc, VALUE* argv, VALUE self) {
   channel_init_try_register_stack stack;
 
   grpc_ruby_fork_guard();
-  int stop_waiting_for_thread_start = 0;
-  rb_thread_call_without_gvl(
-      wait_until_channel_polling_thread_started_no_gil,
-      &stop_waiting_for_thread_start,
-      wait_until_channel_polling_thread_started_unblocking_func,
-      &stop_waiting_for_thread_start);
   /* "3" == 3 mandatory args */
   rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "3", &target, &channel_args, &credentials);
 
@@ -286,7 +277,6 @@ static void* get_state_without_gil(void* arg) {
   get_state_stack* stack = (get_state_stack*)arg;
 
   gpr_mu_lock(&global_connection_polling_mu);
-  GPR_ASSERT(g_abort_channel_polling || g_channel_polling_thread_started);
   if (stack->bg->channel_destroyed) {
     stack->out = GRPC_CHANNEL_SHUTDOWN;
   } else {
@@ -423,15 +413,8 @@ static void grpc_rb_channel_maybe_recreate_channel_after_fork(
   bg_watched_channel* bg = wrapper->bg_wrapped;
   if (bg->channel_destroyed) {
     // There must be one ref at this point, held by the ruby-level channel
-    // object.
+    // object, drop this one here.
     GPR_ASSERT(bg->refcount == 1);
-    // Wait for channel polling thread to re-initialize
-    int stop_waiting_for_thread_start = 0;
-    rb_thread_call_without_gvl(
-        wait_until_channel_polling_thread_started_no_gil,
-        &stop_waiting_for_thread_start,
-        wait_until_channel_polling_thread_started_unblocking_func,
-        &stop_waiting_for_thread_start);
     rb_thread_call_without_gvl(channel_safe_destroy_without_gil, bg, NULL,
                                NULL);
     // re-create C-core channel
@@ -635,9 +618,6 @@ static void grpc_rb_channel_try_register_connection_polling(
     bg_watched_channel* bg) {
   grpc_connectivity_state conn_state;
   watch_state_op* op = NULL;
-
-  GPR_ASSERT(g_channel_polling_thread_started || g_abort_channel_polling);
-
   if (bg->refcount == 0) {
     GPR_ASSERT(bg->channel_destroyed);
     bg_watched_channel_list_free_and_remove(bg);
@@ -647,7 +627,6 @@ static void grpc_rb_channel_try_register_connection_polling(
   if (bg->channel_destroyed || g_abort_channel_polling) {
     return;
   }
-
   conn_state = grpc_channel_check_connectivity_state(bg->channel, 0);
   if (conn_state == GRPC_CHANNEL_SHUTDOWN) {
     return;
@@ -655,7 +634,6 @@ static void grpc_rb_channel_try_register_connection_polling(
   GPR_ASSERT(bg_watched_channel_list_lookup(bg));
   // prevent bg from being free'd by GC while background thread is watching it
   bg->refcount++;
-
   op = gpr_zalloc(sizeof(watch_state_op));
   op->op_type = CONTINUOUS_WATCH;
   op->op.continuous_watch_callback_args.bg = bg;
@@ -678,9 +656,6 @@ static void* run_poll_channels_loop_no_gil(void* arg) {
   gpr_log(GPR_DEBUG, "GRPC_RUBY: run_poll_channels_loop_no_gil - begin");
 
   gpr_mu_lock(&global_connection_polling_mu);
-  GPR_ASSERT(!g_abort_channel_polling);
-  GPR_ASSERT(!g_channel_polling_thread_started);
-  g_channel_polling_thread_started = 1;
   gpr_cv_broadcast(&global_connection_polling_cv);
   gpr_mu_unlock(&global_connection_polling_mu);
 
@@ -761,31 +736,6 @@ static VALUE run_poll_channels_loop(VALUE arg) {
   return Qnil;
 }
 
-static void* wait_until_channel_polling_thread_started_no_gil(void* arg) {
-  int* stop_waiting = (int*)arg;
-  gpr_log(GPR_DEBUG, "GRPC_RUBY: wait for channel polling thread to start");
-  gpr_mu_lock(&global_connection_polling_mu);
-  while (!g_channel_polling_thread_started && !g_abort_channel_polling &&
-         !*stop_waiting) {
-    gpr_cv_wait(&global_connection_polling_cv, &global_connection_polling_mu,
-                gpr_inf_future(GPR_CLOCK_REALTIME));
-  }
-  gpr_mu_unlock(&global_connection_polling_mu);
-
-  return NULL;
-}
-
-static void wait_until_channel_polling_thread_started_unblocking_func(
-    void* arg) {
-  int* stop_waiting = (int*)arg;
-  gpr_mu_lock(&global_connection_polling_mu);
-  gpr_log(GPR_DEBUG,
-          "GRPC_RUBY: interrupt wait for channel polling thread to start");
-  *stop_waiting = 1;
-  gpr_cv_broadcast(&global_connection_polling_cv);
-  gpr_mu_unlock(&global_connection_polling_mu);
-}
-
 static void* set_abort_channel_polling_without_gil(void* arg) {
   (void)arg;
   gpr_mu_lock(&global_connection_polling_mu);
@@ -814,7 +764,6 @@ void grpc_rb_channel_polling_thread_start() {
   gpr_once_init(&g_once_init, do_basic_init);
   GPR_ASSERT(!RTEST(g_channel_polling_thread));
   GPR_ASSERT(!g_abort_channel_polling);
-  GPR_ASSERT(!g_channel_polling_thread_started);
   GPR_ASSERT(g_channel_polling_cq == NULL);
 
   g_channel_polling_cq = grpc_completion_queue_create_for_next(NULL);
@@ -841,7 +790,6 @@ void grpc_rb_channel_polling_thread_stop() {
   // we can start again later
   g_channel_polling_thread = Qnil;
   g_abort_channel_polling = false;
-  g_channel_polling_thread_started = false;
   g_channel_polling_cq = NULL;
 }
 
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/run_tests.py b/tools/run_tests/run_tests.py
index 47b12f1091748..774bf054e7da6 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/run_tests.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/run_tests.py
@@ -945,6 +945,7 @@ def test_specs(self):
             "src/ruby/end2end/fork_test.rb",
             "src/ruby/end2end/simple_fork_test.rb",
             "src/ruby/end2end/prefork_without_using_grpc_test.rb",
+            "src/ruby/end2end/prefork_postfork_loop_test.rb",
             "src/ruby/end2end/secure_fork_test.rb",
             "src/ruby/end2end/bad_usage_fork_test.rb",
             "src/ruby/end2end/sig_handling_test.rb",
@@ -969,6 +970,7 @@ def test_specs(self):
                 "src/ruby/end2end/secure_fork_test.rb",
                 "src/ruby/end2end/bad_usage_fork_test.rb",
                 "src/ruby/end2end/prefork_without_using_grpc_test.rb",
+                "src/ruby/end2end/prefork_postfork_loop_test.rb",
             ]:
                 if platform_string() == "mac":
                     # Skip fork tests on mac, it's only supported on linux.