diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 9b854033..8fec8975 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/jackc/pgio v1.0.0
 	github.com/jackc/pgproto3/v2 v2.0.1
 	github.com/jackc/pgtype v1.1.0
-	github.com/jackc/puddle v1.0.1-0.20200126004755-807afe48a83d
+	github.com/jackc/puddle v1.0.1-0.20200203142542-cde4bcb7af80
 	github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.2 // indirect
 	github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.9 // indirect
 	github.com/rs/zerolog v1.15.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 20c51f28..107b2ad2 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ github.com/jackc/puddle v1.0.0 h1:rbjAshlgKscNa7j0jAM0uNQflis5o2XUogPMVAwtcsM=
 github.com/jackc/puddle v1.0.0/go.mod h1:m4B5Dj62Y0fbyuIc15OsIqK0+JU8nkqQjsgx7dvjSWk=
 github.com/jackc/puddle v1.0.1-0.20200126004755-807afe48a83d h1:lYLhmugF2D1ysJgU4pyW/GcdH+X4O3T96duzNdxcHqY=
 github.com/jackc/puddle v1.0.1-0.20200126004755-807afe48a83d/go.mod h1:m4B5Dj62Y0fbyuIc15OsIqK0+JU8nkqQjsgx7dvjSWk=
+github.com/jackc/puddle v1.0.1-0.20200203142542-cde4bcb7af80 h1:69wtn0QFLOhbxAnvoPYtkMcMTsa6lBF/Wp9341J5Yqo=
+github.com/jackc/puddle v1.0.1-0.20200203142542-cde4bcb7af80/go.mod h1:m4B5Dj62Y0fbyuIc15OsIqK0+JU8nkqQjsgx7dvjSWk=
 github.com/konsorten/go-windows-terminal-sequences v1.0.1 h1:mweAR1A6xJ3oS2pRaGiHgQ4OO8tzTaLawm8vnODuwDk=
 github.com/konsorten/go-windows-terminal-sequences v1.0.1/go.mod h1:T0+1ngSBFLxvqU3pZ+m/2kptfBszLMUkC4ZK/EgS/cQ=
 github.com/konsorten/go-windows-terminal-sequences v1.0.2 h1:DB17ag19krx9CFsz4o3enTrPXyIXCl+2iCXH/aMAp9s=
diff --git a/pgxpool/pool.go b/pgxpool/pool.go
index 524373b9..02ff4e5a 100644
--- a/pgxpool/pool.go
+++ b/pgxpool/pool.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 var defaultMaxConns = int32(4)
+var defaultMinConns = int32(0)
 var defaultMaxConnLifetime = time.Hour
 var defaultMaxConnIdleTime = time.Minute * 30
 var defaultHealthCheckPeriod = time.Minute
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ type Pool struct {
 	afterConnect      func(context.Context, *pgx.Conn) error
 	beforeAcquire     func(context.Context, *pgx.Conn) bool
 	afterRelease      func(*pgx.Conn) bool
+	minConns          int32
 	maxConnLifetime   time.Duration
 	maxConnIdleTime   time.Duration
 	healthCheckPeriod time.Duration
@@ -103,6 +105,10 @@ type Config struct {
 	// MaxConns is the maximum size of the pool.
 	MaxConns int32
 
+	// MinConns is the minimum size of the pool. The health check will increase the number of connections to this
+	// amount if it had dropped below.
+	MinConns int32
+
 	// HealthCheckPeriod is the duration between checks of the health of idle connections.
 	HealthCheckPeriod time.Duration
 
@@ -133,6 +139,7 @@ func ConnectConfig(ctx context.Context, config *Config) (*Pool, error) {
 		afterConnect:      config.AfterConnect,
 		beforeAcquire:     config.BeforeAcquire,
 		afterRelease:      config.AfterRelease,
+		minConns:          config.MinConns,
 		maxConnLifetime:   config.MaxConnLifetime,
 		maxConnIdleTime:   config.MaxConnIdleTime,
 		healthCheckPeriod: config.HealthCheckPeriod,
@@ -190,6 +197,7 @@ func ConnectConfig(ctx context.Context, config *Config) (*Pool, error) {
 // addition of the following variables:
 //
 // pool_max_conns: integer greater than 0
+// pool_min_conns: integer 0 or greater
 // pool_max_conn_lifetime: duration string
 // pool_max_conn_idle_time: duration string
 // pool_health_check_period: duration string
@@ -229,6 +237,17 @@ func ParseConfig(connString string) (*Config, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
+	if s, ok := config.ConnConfig.Config.RuntimeParams["pool_min_conns"]; ok {
+		delete(connConfig.Config.RuntimeParams, "pool_min_conns")
+		n, err := strconv.ParseInt(s, 10, 32)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, errors.Errorf("cannot parse pool_min_conns: %w", err)
+		}
+		config.MinConns = int32(n)
+	} else {
+		config.MinConns = defaultMinConns
+	}
+
 	if s, ok := config.ConnConfig.Config.RuntimeParams["pool_max_conn_lifetime"]; ok {
 		delete(connConfig.Config.RuntimeParams, "pool_max_conn_lifetime")
 		d, err := time.ParseDuration(s)
@@ -282,6 +301,7 @@ func (p *Pool) backgroundHealthCheck() {
 			return
 		case <-ticker.C:
 			p.checkIdleConnsHealth()
+			p.checkMinConns()
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -301,6 +321,12 @@ func (p *Pool) checkIdleConnsHealth() {
 	}
 }
 
+func (p *Pool) checkMinConns() {
+	for i := p.minConns - p.Stat().TotalConns(); i > 0; i-- {
+		go p.p.CreateResource(context.Background())
+	}
+}
+
 func (p *Pool) Acquire(ctx context.Context) (*Conn, error) {
 	for {
 		res, err := p.p.Acquire(ctx)
diff --git a/pgxpool/pool_test.go b/pgxpool/pool_test.go
index d8ac4f98..2fdc87b4 100644
--- a/pgxpool/pool_test.go
+++ b/pgxpool/pool_test.go
@@ -23,10 +23,12 @@ func TestConnect(t *testing.T) {
 func TestParseConfigExtractsPoolArguments(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
-	config, err := pgxpool.ParseConfig("pool_max_conns=42")
+	config, err := pgxpool.ParseConfig("pool_max_conns=42 pool_min_conns=1")
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.EqualValues(t, 42, config.MaxConns)
+	assert.EqualValues(t, 1, config.MinConns)
 	assert.NotContains(t, config.ConnConfig.Config.RuntimeParams, "pool_max_conns")
+	assert.NotContains(t, config.ConnConfig.Config.RuntimeParams, "pool_min_conns")
 }
 
 func TestConnectCancel(t *testing.T) {
@@ -276,6 +278,25 @@ func TestPoolBackgroundChecksMaxConnIdleTime(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.EqualValues(t, 0, stats.TotalConns())
 }
 
+func TestPoolBackgroundChecksMinConns(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	config, err := pgxpool.ParseConfig(os.Getenv("PGX_TEST_DATABASE"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	config.HealthCheckPeriod = 100 * time.Millisecond
+	config.MinConns = 2
+
+	db, err := pgxpool.ConnectConfig(context.Background(), config)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	defer db.Close()
+
+	time.Sleep(config.HealthCheckPeriod + 100*time.Millisecond)
+
+	stats := db.Stat()
+	assert.EqualValues(t, 2, stats.TotalConns())
+}
+
 func TestPoolExec(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()