diff --git a/packages/django-dramatiq-postgres/django_dramatiq_postgres/broker.py b/packages/django-dramatiq-postgres/django_dramatiq_postgres/broker.py
index 752c71c77d..7aa868f77f 100644
--- a/packages/django-dramatiq-postgres/django_dramatiq_postgres/broker.py
+++ b/packages/django-dramatiq-postgres/django_dramatiq_postgres/broker.py
@@ -364,16 +364,15 @@ class _PostgresConsumer(Consumer):
     @raise_connection_error
     def __next__(self) -> MessageProxy | None:
         # This method is called every second
-        notifies = []
 
         # If we don't have a connection yet, fetch missed notifications from the table directly
-        if self._listen_connection is None:
+        if self._listen_connection is None and not self.notifies:
             # We might miss a notification between the initial query and the first time we wait for
             # notifications, it doesn't matter because we re-fetch for missed messages later on.
-            notifies = self._fetch_pending_notifies()
+            self.notifies = self._fetch_pending_notifies()
             self.logger.debug(
                 "Found pending messages in queue",
-                notifies=len(notifies),
+                notifies=len(self.notifies),
                 queue=self.queue_name,
             )
             # Force creation of listen connection
@@ -391,15 +390,15 @@ class _PostgresConsumer(Consumer):
             time.sleep(backoff_ms / 1000)
             return None
 
-        if not notifies:
-            notifies = self._poll_for_notify()
+        if not self.notifies:
+            self.notifies += self._poll_for_notify()
 
-        if not notifies:
-            notifies = self._fetch_pending_notifies()
+        if not self.notifies:
+            self.notifies += self._fetch_pending_notifies()
 
         # If we have some notifies, loop to find one to do
-        while notifies:
-            notify = notifies.pop(0)
+        while self.notifies:
+            notify = self.notifies.pop(0)
             task: TaskBase | None = (
                 self.query_set.defer(None).defer("result").filter(message_id=notify.payload).first()
             )