diff --git a/lib/datadog/statsd/forwarder.rb b/lib/datadog/statsd/forwarder.rb
index a7d9ad73..0c8712e8 100644
--- a/lib/datadog/statsd/forwarder.rb
+++ b/lib/datadog/statsd/forwarder.rb
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ def initialize(
       )
         @transport_type = socket_path.nil? ? :udp : :uds
 
+        # in order to add the telemetry metrics only in the main process
+        # note that it also means that if the main process is not submitting metrics,
+        # we won't send any telemetry data
+        @main_pid = Process.pid
+
         if telemetry_flush_interval
           @telemetry = Telemetry.new(telemetry_flush_interval,
             global_tags: global_tags,
@@ -104,6 +109,8 @@ def close
       attr_reader :connection
 
       def do_flush_telemetry
+        return if Process.pid != @main_pid
+
         telemetry_snapshot = telemetry.flush
         telemetry.reset
 
diff --git a/lib/datadog/statsd/message_buffer.rb b/lib/datadog/statsd/message_buffer.rb
index 841862f7..374176cf 100644
--- a/lib/datadog/statsd/message_buffer.rb
+++ b/lib/datadog/statsd/message_buffer.rb
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 module Datadog
   class Statsd
     class MessageBuffer
+      @fork_pid = 0
+
       PAYLOAD_SIZE_TOLERANCE = 0.05
 
       def initialize(connection,
@@ -20,9 +22,21 @@ def initialize(connection,
 
         @buffer = String.new
         @message_count = 0
+
+        # store the pid for which this message buffer has been created
+        update_fork_pid
       end
 
       def add(message)
+        # we are in a new PID, which means the parent process has just forked and
+        # we are currently running in the child: we have to clean the buffer since
+        # we don't want to process/flush the metrics buffered by the parent process.
+        if forked?
+          buffer.clear
+          @message_count = 0
+          update_fork_pid
+        end
+
         message_size = message.bytesize
 
         return nil unless message_size > 0 # to avoid adding empty messages to the buffer
@@ -83,6 +97,21 @@ def ensure_sendable!(message_size)
       def bytesize_threshold
         @bytesize_threshold ||= (max_payload_size - PAYLOAD_SIZE_TOLERANCE * max_payload_size).to_i
       end
+
+      # below are "fork management" methods to be able to clean the MessageBuffer
+      # if it detects that it is running in a unknown PID.
+
+      def forked?
+        Process.pid != fork_pid
+      end
+
+      def update_fork_pid
+        @fork_pid = Process.pid
+      end
+
+      def fork_pid
+        @fork_pid ||= Process.pid
+      end
     end
   end
 end