diff --git a/src/t_stream.c b/src/t_stream.c
index c47c5dde..1836ae73 100644
--- a/src/t_stream.c
+++ b/src/t_stream.c
@@ -399,6 +399,7 @@ void xlenCommand(client *c) {
 /* XREAD [BLOCK <milliseconds>] [COUNT <count>] [GROUP <groupname> <ttl>]
  *       [RETRY <milliseconds> <ttl>] STREAMS key_1 key_2 ... key_N
  *       ID_1 ID_2 ... ID_N */
+#define XREAD_BLOCKED_DEFAULT_COUNT 1000
 void xreadCommand(client *c) {
     long long timeout = -1; /* -1 means, no BLOCK argument given. */
     long long count = 0;
@@ -510,6 +511,11 @@ void xreadCommand(client *c) {
         }
         blockForKeys(c, BLOCKED_STREAM, c->argv+streams_arg, streams_count,
                      timeout, NULL, ids);
+        /* If no COUNT is given and we block, set a relatively small count:
+         * in case the ID provided is too low, we do not want the server to
+         * block just to serve this client a huge stream of messages. */
+        c->bpop.xread_count = count ? count : XREAD_BLOCKED_DEFAULT_COUNT;
+        c->bpop.xread_group = NULL; /* Not used for now. */
         goto cleanup;
     }