diff --git a/pgxn/neon/libpagestore.c b/pgxn/neon/libpagestore.c
index 5eae2d8204..a665cafafe 100644
--- a/pgxn/neon/libpagestore.c
+++ b/pgxn/neon/libpagestore.c
@@ -381,6 +381,15 @@ pageserver_connect(shardno_t shard_no, int elevel)
 		us_since_last_attempt = (int64) (now - shard->last_reconnect_time);
 		shard->last_reconnect_time = now;
 
+		/*
+		 * Make sure we don't do exponential backoff with a constant multiplier
+		 * of 0 us, as that doesn't really do much for timeouts...
+		 *
+		 * cf. https://github.com/neondatabase/neon/issues/7897
+		 */
+		if (shard->delay_us == 0)
+			shard->delay_us = MIN_RECONNECT_INTERVAL_USEC;
+
 		/*
 		 * If we did other tasks between reconnect attempts, then we won't
 		 * need to wait as long as a full delay.