diff --git a/gst/udp/gstmultiudpsink.c b/gst/udp/gstmultiudpsink.c
index 0b2b9ddfc0..bb84997cf2 100644
--- a/gst/udp/gstmultiudpsink.c
+++ b/gst/udp/gstmultiudpsink.c
@@ -373,6 +373,26 @@ gst_multiudpsink_class_init (GstMultiUDPSinkClass * klass)
   GST_DEBUG_CATEGORY_INIT (multiudpsink_debug, "multiudpsink", 0, "UDP sink");
 }
 
+static void
+gst_multiudpsink_create_cancellable (GstMultiUDPSink * sink)
+{
+  GPollFD pollfd;
+
+  sink->cancellable = g_cancellable_new ();
+  sink->made_cancel_fd = g_cancellable_make_pollfd (sink->cancellable, &pollfd);
+}
+
+static void
+gst_multiudpsink_free_cancellable (GstMultiUDPSink * sink)
+{
+  if (sink->made_cancel_fd) {
+    g_cancellable_release_fd (sink->cancellable);
+    sink->made_cancel_fd = FALSE;
+  }
+  g_object_unref (sink->cancellable);
+  sink->cancellable = NULL;
+}
+
 static void
 gst_multiudpsink_init (GstMultiUDPSink * sink)
 {
@@ -400,7 +420,7 @@ gst_multiudpsink_init (GstMultiUDPSink * sink)
   sink->send_duplicates = DEFAULT_SEND_DUPLICATES;
   sink->multi_iface = g_strdup (DEFAULT_MULTICAST_IFACE);
 
-  sink->cancellable = g_cancellable_new ();
+  gst_multiudpsink_create_cancellable (sink);
 
   /* pre-allocate OutputVector, MapInfo and OutputMessage arrays
    * for use in the render and render_list functions */
@@ -522,9 +542,7 @@ gst_multiudpsink_finalize (GObject * object)
     g_object_unref (sink->used_socket_v6);
   sink->used_socket_v6 = NULL;
 
-  if (sink->cancellable)
-    g_object_unref (sink->cancellable);
-  sink->cancellable = NULL;
+  gst_multiudpsink_free_cancellable (sink);
 
   g_free (sink->multi_iface);
   sink->multi_iface = NULL;
@@ -1845,8 +1863,8 @@ gst_multiudpsink_unlock_stop (GstBaseSink * bsink)
 
   sink = GST_MULTIUDPSINK (bsink);
 
-  g_object_unref (sink->cancellable);
-  sink->cancellable = g_cancellable_new ();
+  gst_multiudpsink_free_cancellable (sink);
+  gst_multiudpsink_create_cancellable (sink);
 
   return TRUE;
 }
diff --git a/gst/udp/gstmultiudpsink.h b/gst/udp/gstmultiudpsink.h
index ba6f12c534..8849f38c7b 100644
--- a/gst/udp/gstmultiudpsink.h
+++ b/gst/udp/gstmultiudpsink.h
@@ -81,7 +81,9 @@ struct _GstMultiUDPSink {
   GstBaseSink parent;
 
   GSocket       *used_socket, *used_socket_v6;
+
   GCancellable  *cancellable;
+  gboolean       made_cancel_fd;
 
   /* client management */
   GMutex         client_lock;