diff --git a/src/test/recovery/t/040_standby_failover_slots_sync.pl b/src/test/recovery/t/040_standby_failover_slots_sync.pl
index 3059bb8177b..1627e619b1b 100644
--- a/src/test/recovery/t/040_standby_failover_slots_sync.pl
+++ b/src/test/recovery/t/040_standby_failover_slots_sync.pl
@@ -344,8 +344,20 @@ like(
 ##################################################
 
 $standby1->append_conf('postgresql.conf', "primary_conninfo = '$connstr_1'");
+
+# Capture the log position before reload to check for walreceiver
+# termination.
+$log_offset = -s $standby1->logfile;
+
 $standby1->reload;
 
+# Wait for the walreceiver to be stopped and restarted after a configuration
+# reload.  When primary_conninfo changes, the walreceiver should be
+# terminated and a new one spawned.
+$standby1->wait_for_log(
+	qr/FATAL: .* terminating walreceiver process due to administrator command/,
+	$log_offset);
+
 ($result, $stdout, $stderr) =
   $standby1->psql('postgres', "SELECT pg_sync_replication_slots();");
 like(