diff --git a/packages/babel-node/src/babel-node.js b/packages/babel-node/src/babel-node.js
index b7b7ce0e50..fa0b0eca4f 100755
--- a/packages/babel-node/src/babel-node.js
+++ b/packages/babel-node/src/babel-node.js
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ getV8Flags(function (err, v8Flags) {
 
     const child_process = require("child_process");
     const proc = child_process.spawn(process.argv[0], args, {
-      stdio: "inherit",
+      stdio: ["inherit", "inherit", "inherit", "ipc"],
     });
     proc.on("exit", function (code, signal) {
       process.on("exit", function () {
diff --git a/packages/babel-node/test/fixtures/babel-node/subprocess-send/in-files/payload.js b/packages/babel-node/test/fixtures/babel-node/subprocess-send/in-files/payload.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7791321ed5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/babel-node/test/fixtures/babel-node/subprocess-send/in-files/payload.js
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+process.send({ hello: "world" });
+console.log("sent");
diff --git a/packages/babel-node/test/fixtures/babel-node/subprocess-send/options.json b/packages/babel-node/test/fixtures/babel-node/subprocess-send/options.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0b9df29c58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/babel-node/test/fixtures/babel-node/subprocess-send/options.json
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+  "args": ["payload.js"],
+  "stdout": "sent"
+}