diff --git a/doc/api/child_process.md b/doc/api/child_process.md
index c653ba0d85daa4..add7d7a7b03b77 100644
--- a/doc/api/child_process.md
+++ b/doc/api/child_process.md
@@ -572,9 +572,9 @@ spawn('prg', [], { stdio: ['pipe', null, null, null, 'pipe'] });
 *It is worth noting that when an IPC channel is established between the
 parent and child processes, and the child is a Node.js process, the child
 is launched with the IPC channel unreferenced (using `unref()`) until the
-child registers an event handler for the [`process.on('disconnect')`][] event.
-This allows the child to exit normally without the process being held open
-by the open IPC channel.*
+child registers an event handler for the [`process.on('disconnect')`][] event
+or the [`process.on('message')`][] event.This allows the child to exit normally
+without the process being held open by the open IPC channel.*
 
 See also: [`child_process.exec()`][] and [`child_process.fork()`][]