diff --git a/FileUtils.cpp b/FileUtils.cpp
index d9150223..ebfe18d3 100644
--- a/FileUtils.cpp
+++ b/FileUtils.cpp
@@ -556,6 +556,11 @@ int CExecSock::popen2(int & iReadFD, int & iWriteFD, const CString & sCommand) {
 void CExecSock::close2(int iPid, int iReadFD, int iWriteFD) {
 	close(iReadFD);
 	close(iWriteFD);
-	// If a zombie is left behind, SIGCHLD will handle it
+	u_int iNow = time(NULL);
+	while (waitpid(iPid, NULL, WNOHANG) == 0) {
+		if ((time(NULL) - iNow) > 5)
+			break;  // giveup
+		usleep(100);
+	}
 	return;
 }
diff --git a/main.cpp b/main.cpp
index 7ff172f9..e389a5b2 100644
--- a/main.cpp
+++ b/main.cpp
@@ -62,11 +62,6 @@ static void rehash(int sig) {
 	CZNC::Get().SetNeedRehash(true);
 }
 
-static void reapChilds(int sig) {
-	while (waitpid(-1, NULL, WNOHANG) > 0) {
-	}
-}
-
 static bool isRoot() {
 	// User root? If one of these were root, we could switch the others to root, too
 	if (geteuid() == 0 || getuid() == 0)
@@ -248,9 +243,6 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
 	sa.sa_handler = rehash;
 	sigaction(SIGHUP,  &sa, (struct sigaction*) NULL);
 
-	sa.sa_handler = reapChilds;
-	sigaction(SIGCHLD, &sa, (struct sigaction*) NULL);
-
 	// Once this signal is caught, the signal handler is reset
 	// to SIG_DFL. This avoids endless loop with signals.
 	sa.sa_flags = SA_RESETHAND;