diff --git a/pageserver/src/http/routes.rs b/pageserver/src/http/routes.rs
index 10ca96a2c1..107eed6801 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/http/routes.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/http/routes.rs
@@ -83,12 +83,12 @@ use utils::{
 // This is not functionally necessary (clients will retry), but avoids generating a lot of
 // failed API calls while tenants are activating.
 #[cfg(not(feature = "testing"))]
-const ACTIVE_TENANT_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_millis(5000);
+pub(crate) const ACTIVE_TENANT_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_millis(5000);
 
 // Tests run on slow/oversubscribed nodes, and may need to wait much longer for tenants to
 // finish attaching, if calls to remote storage are slow.
 #[cfg(feature = "testing")]
-const ACTIVE_TENANT_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_millis(30000);
+pub(crate) const ACTIVE_TENANT_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_millis(30000);
 
 pub struct State {
     conf: &'static PageServerConf,
@@ -571,10 +571,16 @@ async fn timeline_list_handler(
         parse_query_param(&request, "force-await-initial-logical-size")?;
     check_permission(&request, Some(tenant_shard_id.tenant_id))?;
 
+    let state = get_state(&request);
     let ctx = RequestContext::new(TaskKind::MgmtRequest, DownloadBehavior::Download);
 
     let response_data = async {
-        let tenant = mgr::get_tenant(tenant_shard_id, true)?;
+        let tenant = state
+            .tenant_manager
+            .get_attached_tenant_shard(tenant_shard_id, false)?;
+
+        tenant.wait_to_become_active(ACTIVE_TENANT_TIMEOUT).await?;
+
         let timelines = tenant.list_timelines();
 
         let mut response_data = Vec::with_capacity(timelines.len());
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/mgr.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/mgr.rs
index b7f4723702..c765c6bacf 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/mgr.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/mgr.rs
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ use crate::control_plane_client::{
     ControlPlaneClient, ControlPlaneGenerationsApi, RetryForeverError,
 };
 use crate::deletion_queue::DeletionQueueClient;
+use crate::http::routes::ACTIVE_TENANT_TIMEOUT;
 use crate::metrics::{TENANT, TENANT_MANAGER as METRICS};
 use crate::task_mgr::{self, TaskKind};
 use crate::tenant::config::{
@@ -1489,6 +1490,16 @@ impl TenantManager {
                 peek_slot.and_then(|s| s.get_attached()).cloned()
             };
             if let Some(t) = child_shard {
+                // Wait for the child shard to become active: this should be very quick because it only
+                // has to download the index_part that we just uploaded when creating it.
+                if let Err(e) = t.wait_to_become_active(ACTIVE_TENANT_TIMEOUT).await {
+                    // This is not fatal: we have durably created the child shard.  It just makes the
+                    // split operation less seamless for clients, as we will may detach the parent
+                    // shard before the child shards are fully ready to serve requests.
+                    tracing::warn!("Failed to wait for shard {child_shard_id} to activate: {e}");
+                    continue;
+                }
+
                 let timelines = t.timelines.lock().unwrap().clone();
                 for timeline in timelines.values() {
                     let Some(target_lsn) = target_lsns.get(&timeline.timeline_id) else {