diff --git a/sys/arm/arm/vm_machdep.c b/sys/arm/arm/vm_machdep.c
index 3bdf45d6632..72766d47470 100644
--- a/sys/arm/arm/vm_machdep.c
+++ b/sys/arm/arm/vm_machdep.c
@@ -553,6 +553,8 @@ retry:
 		    SECTION_PT : SECTION_CACHE);
 		mtx_lock(&smallalloc_mtx);
 		in_alloc = NULL;
+		if (in_sleep > 0)
+			should_wakeup = 1;
 		if (sp) {
 			for (int i = 0; i < (0x100000 / PAGE_SIZE) - 1;
 			    i++) {