diff --git a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ShardRegion.scala b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ShardRegion.scala
index 0936e5acde..086ecbe3db 100644
--- a/akka-cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ShardRegion.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster-sharding/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/sharding/ShardRegion.scala
@@ -366,6 +366,7 @@ class ShardRegion(
   var loggedFullBufferWarning = false
   var shards = Map.empty[ShardId, ActorRef]
   var shardsByRef = Map.empty[ActorRef, ShardId]
+  var startingShards = Set.empty[ShardId]
   var handingOff = Set.empty[ActorRef]
   var gracefulShutdownInProgress = false
 
@@ -560,6 +561,7 @@ class ShardRegion(
 
       shardsByRef = shardsByRef - ref
       shards = shards - shardId
+      startingShards -= shardId
       if (handingOff.contains(ref)) {
         handingOff = handingOff - ref
         log.debug("Shard [{}] handoff complete", shardId)
@@ -632,7 +634,7 @@ class ShardRegion(
 
   def initializeShard(id: ShardId, shard: ActorRef): Unit = {
     log.debug("Shard was initialized {}", id)
-    shards = shards.updated(id, shard)
+    startingShards -= id
     deliverBufferedMessages(id, shard)
   }
 
@@ -722,29 +724,38 @@ class ShardRegion(
         }
     }
 
-  def getShard(id: ShardId): Option[ActorRef] = shards.get(id).orElse(
-    entityProps match {
-      case Some(props) if !shardsByRef.values.exists(_ == id) ⇒
-        log.debug("Starting shard [{}] in region", id)
+  def getShard(id: ShardId): Option[ActorRef] = {
+    if (startingShards.contains(id))
+      None
+    else {
+      shards.get(id).orElse(
+        entityProps match {
+          case Some(props) if !shardsByRef.values.exists(_ == id) ⇒
+            log.debug("Starting shard [{}] in region", id)
 
-        val name = URLEncoder.encode(id, "utf-8")
-        val shard = context.watch(context.actorOf(
-          Shard.props(
-            typeName,
-            id,
-            props,
-            settings,
-            extractEntityId,
-            extractShardId,
-            handOffStopMessage).withDispatcher(context.props.dispatcher),
-          name))
-        shardsByRef = shardsByRef.updated(shard, id)
-        None
-      case Some(props) ⇒
-        None
-      case None ⇒
-        throw new IllegalStateException("Shard must not be allocated to a proxy only ShardRegion")
-    })
+            val name = URLEncoder.encode(id, "utf-8")
+            val shard = context.watch(context.actorOf(
+              Shard.props(
+                typeName,
+                id,
+                props,
+                settings,
+                extractEntityId,
+                extractShardId,
+                handOffStopMessage).withDispatcher(context.props.dispatcher),
+              name))
+            shardsByRef = shardsByRef.updated(shard, id)
+            shards = shards.updated(id, shard)
+            startingShards += id
+            None
+          case Some(props) ⇒
+            None
+          case None ⇒
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Shard must not be allocated to a proxy only ShardRegion")
+        }
+      )
+    }
+  }
 
   def sendGracefulShutdownToCoordinator(): Unit =
     if (gracefulShutdownInProgress)