diff --git a/replication.go b/replication.go
index 16755f0e..fdbdce92 100644
--- a/replication.go
+++ b/replication.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ const (
 	walData             = 'w'
 	senderKeepalive     = 'k'
 	standbyStatusUpdate = 'r'
+	initialReplicationResponseTimeout = 5 * time.Second
 )
 
 var epochNano int64
@@ -215,6 +216,14 @@ func (c *Conn) readReplicationMessage() (r *ReplicationMessage, err error) {
 			replyNow := reader.readByte()
 			h := &ServerHeartbeat{ServerWalEnd: uint64(serverWalEnd), ServerTime: uint64(serverTime), ReplyRequested: replyNow}
 			return &ReplicationMessage{ServerHeartbeat: h}, nil
+		default:
+			if c.shouldLog(LogLevelError) {
+				c.log(LogLevelError,"Unexpected data playload message type %v", t)
+			}
+		}
+	default:
+		if c.shouldLog(LogLevelError) {
+			c.log(LogLevelError,"Unexpected replication message type %v", t)
 		}
 	}
 	return
@@ -227,10 +236,6 @@ func (c *Conn) readReplicationMessage() (r *ReplicationMessage, err error) {
 // updates. The caller also must send standby status updates in order to keep the connection
 // alive and working.
 //
-// There is also a condition (during startup) which can cause both the replication message
-// to return as nil as well as the error, which is a normal part of the replication protocol
-// startup. It's important the client correctly handle (ignore) this scenario.
-//
 // This returns pgx.ErrNotificationTimeout when there is no replication message by the specified
 // duration.
 func (c *Conn) WaitForReplicationMessage(timeout time.Duration) (r *ReplicationMessage, err error) {
@@ -270,19 +275,43 @@ func (c *Conn) WaitForReplicationMessage(timeout time.Duration) (r *ReplicationM
 }
 
 // Start a replication connection, sending WAL data to the given replication
-// receiver. The sql string here should be a "START_REPLICATION" command, as
-// per the postgresql docs here:
+// receiver. This function wraps a START_REPLICATION command as documented
+// here:
 // https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.5/static/protocol-replication.html
 //
-// A typical query would look like:
-// START_REPLICATION SLOT t LOGICAL test_decoder 0/0
-//
 // Once started, the client needs to invoke WaitForReplicationMessage() in order
 // to fetch the WAL and standby status. Also, it is the responsibility of the caller
 // to periodically send StandbyStatus messages to update the replication slot position.
-func (c *Conn) StartReplication(sql string, arguments ...interface{}) (err error) {
-	if err = c.sendQuery(sql, arguments...); err != nil {
+//
+// This function assumes that slotName has already been created. In order to omit the timeline argument
+// pass a -1 for the timeline to get the server default behavior.
+func (c *Conn) StartReplication(slotName string, startLsn uint64, timeline int64, pluginArguments ...string) (err error) {
+	var queryString string
+	if timeline >= 0 {
+		queryString = fmt.Sprintf("START_REPLICATION SLOT %s LOGICAL %s TIMELINE %d", slotName, FormatLSN(startLsn), timeline)
+	} else {
+		queryString = fmt.Sprintf("START_REPLICATION SLOT %s LOGICAL %s", slotName, FormatLSN(startLsn))
+	}
+
+	for _, arg := range pluginArguments {
+		queryString += fmt.Sprintf(" %s", arg)
+	}
+
+	if err = c.sendQuery(queryString); err != nil {
 		return
 	}
+
+	// The first replication message that comes back here will be (in a success case)
+	// a empty CopyBoth that is (apparently) sent as the confirmation that the replication has
+	// started. This call will either return nil, nil or if it returns an error
+	// that indicates the start replication command failed
+	var r *ReplicationMessage
+	r, err = c.WaitForReplicationMessage(initialReplicationResponseTimeout)
+	if err != nil && r != nil {
+		if c.shouldLog(LogLevelError) {
+			c.log(LogLevelError, "Unxpected replication message %v", r)
+		}
+	}
+
 	return
 }
diff --git a/replication_test.go b/replication_test.go
index 1d77982a..411b449e 100644
--- a/replication_test.go
+++ b/replication_test.go
@@ -7,12 +7,13 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 	"reflect"
+	"fmt"
 )
 
 // This function uses a postgresql 9.6 specific column
 func getConfirmedFlushLsnFor(t *testing.T, conn *pgx.Conn, slot string) string {
 	// Fetch the restart LSN of the slot, to establish a starting point
-	rows, err := conn.Query("select confirmed_flush_lsn from pg_replication_slots where slot_name='pgx_test'")
+	rows, err := conn.Query(fmt.Sprintf("select confirmed_flush_lsn from pg_replication_slots where slot_name='%s'", slot))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("conn.Query failed: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ func TestSimpleReplicationConnection(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Failed to create table: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	err = replicationConn.StartReplication("START_REPLICATION SLOT pgx_test LOGICAL 0/0")
+	err = replicationConn.StartReplication("pgx_test", 0, -1)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Failed to start replication: %v", err)
 	}