diff --git a/db/migration_testcontainers_test.go b/db/migration_testcontainers_test.go
index 241962c..988465c 100644
--- a/db/migration_testcontainers_test.go
+++ b/db/migration_testcontainers_test.go
@@ -13,9 +13,7 @@ import (
 	_ "github.com/lib/pq"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
-	"github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go"
 	"github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/modules/postgres"
-	"github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/wait"
 )
 
 //go:embed migrations_test
@@ -30,9 +28,7 @@ func startPostgresForMigrations(t *testing.T) *postgres.PostgresContainer {
 		postgres.WithDatabase("testdb"),
 		postgres.WithUsername("testuser"),
 		postgres.WithPassword("testpass"),
-		testcontainers.WithWaitStrategy(
-			wait.ForListeningPort("5432/tcp").WithStartupTimeout(60*time.Second),
-		),
+		postgresReady(),
 	)
 	require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to start PostgreSQL container")
 	return container
diff --git a/db/otel_integration_test.go b/db/otel_integration_test.go
index 8b9d4ca..3f23574 100644
--- a/db/otel_integration_test.go
+++ b/db/otel_integration_test.go
@@ -12,9 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/google/uuid"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
-	"github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go"
 	"github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/modules/postgres"
-	"github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/wait"
 	noopl "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/log/noop"
 	noopm "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric/noop"
 	sdkmetric "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/metric"
@@ -36,9 +34,7 @@ func TestPostgresPoolWithOTelTracing(t *testing.T) {
 		postgres.WithUsername("testuser"),
 		postgres.WithPassword("testpass"),
 		postgres.WithInitScripts(filepath.Join("..", "scripts", "compose", "pg", "backup", "default.sql")),
-		testcontainers.WithWaitStrategy(
-			wait.ForListeningPort("5432/tcp").WithStartupTimeout(60*time.Second),
-		),
+		postgresReady(),
 	)
 	require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to start PostgreSQL container")
 	defer func() {
@@ -209,9 +205,7 @@ func TestPostgresPoolWithOTelMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 		postgres.WithUsername("testuser"),
 		postgres.WithPassword("testpass"),
 		postgres.WithInitScripts(filepath.Join("..", "scripts", "compose", "pg", "backup", "default.sql")),
-		testcontainers.WithWaitStrategy(
-			wait.ForListeningPort("5432/tcp").WithStartupTimeout(60*time.Second),
-		),
+		postgresReady(),
 	)
 	require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to start PostgreSQL container")
 	defer func() {
@@ -287,9 +281,7 @@ func TestPostgresPoolMetricsWithoutTracing(t *testing.T) {
 		postgres.WithDatabase("testdb"),
 		postgres.WithUsername("testuser"),
 		postgres.WithPassword("testpass"),
-		testcontainers.WithWaitStrategy(
-			wait.ForListeningPort("5432/tcp").WithStartupTimeout(60*time.Second),
-		),
+		postgresReady(),
 	)
 	require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to start PostgreSQL container")
 	defer func() {
@@ -369,9 +361,7 @@ func TestPostgresPoolWithOTelDisabled(t *testing.T) {
 		postgres.WithUsername("testuser"),
 		postgres.WithPassword("testpass"),
 		postgres.WithInitScripts(filepath.Join("..", "scripts", "compose", "pg", "backup", "default.sql")),
-		testcontainers.WithWaitStrategy(
-			wait.ForListeningPort("5432/tcp").WithStartupTimeout(60*time.Second),
-		),
+		postgresReady(),
 	)
 	require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to start PostgreSQL container")
 	defer func() {
@@ -539,9 +529,7 @@ func TestOTelCallbacksWithoutContext(t *testing.T) {
 		postgres.WithUsername("testuser"),
 		postgres.WithPassword("testpass"),
 		postgres.WithInitScripts(filepath.Join("..", "scripts", "compose", "pg", "backup", "default.sql")),
-		testcontainers.WithWaitStrategy(
-			wait.ForListeningPort("5432/tcp").WithStartupTimeout(60*time.Second),
-		),
+		postgresReady(),
 	)
 	require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to start PostgreSQL container")
 	defer func() {
@@ -682,9 +670,7 @@ func TestOTelCallbacksTableAndRowsAffected(t *testing.T) {
 		postgres.WithUsername("testuser"),
 		postgres.WithPassword("testpass"),
 		postgres.WithInitScripts(filepath.Join("..", "scripts", "compose", "pg", "backup", "default.sql")),
-		testcontainers.WithWaitStrategy(
-			wait.ForListeningPort("5432/tcp").WithStartupTimeout(60*time.Second),
-		),
+		postgresReady(),
 	)
 	require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to start PostgreSQL container")
 	defer func() {
diff --git a/db/pool_testcontainers_test.go b/db/pool_testcontainers_test.go
index f46e91d..22ce326 100644
--- a/db/pool_testcontainers_test.go
+++ b/db/pool_testcontainers_test.go
@@ -33,9 +33,7 @@ func setupPostgresContainer(t *testing.T) (*postgres.PostgresContainer, *Connect
 		postgres.WithUsername("testuser"),
 		postgres.WithPassword("testpass"),
 		postgres.WithInitScripts(filepath.Join("..", "scripts", "compose", "pg", "backup", "default.sql")),
-		testcontainers.WithWaitStrategy(
-			wait.ForListeningPort("5432/tcp").WithStartupTimeout(60*time.Second),
-		),
+		postgresReady(),
 	)
 	require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to start PostgreSQL container")
 
diff --git a/db/testcontainers_wait_test.go b/db/testcontainers_wait_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41c288f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/testcontainers_wait_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+//go:build integration
+
+package db
+
+import (
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go"
+	"github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/wait"
+)
+
+// postgresReady is the readiness strategy every Postgres test container must
+// use.
+//
+// Waiting only on the mapped port is not enough. The postgres image runs initdb
+// against a temporary server, stops it, then starts the real one — so the
+// container passes a port check while the server is on its way down, and the
+// connection that follows fails with "connection reset by peer" or "unexpected
+// EOF" rather than a timeout. The window is invisible on an idle machine and
+// opens up under CI load, which is exactly how it surfaced: two different db
+// tests failing on two consecutive runs, each ~10s in, well inside the 60s
+// deadline they had.
+//
+// The occurrence-2 log check is what closes it — the readiness line is printed
+// once by the init server and once by the real one. This mirrors
+// postgres.BasicWaitStrategies(), whose own source warns these tests "will be
+// flaky" on macOS without the port check kept alongside it; we keep both and
+// set an explicit deadline with headroom for a loaded runner.
+//
+// Use this for every Postgres container in the package. MySQL and MSSQL are
+// unaffected: they already wait on a real query via wait.ForSQL.
+func postgresReady() testcontainers.CustomizeRequestOption {
+	return testcontainers.WithWaitStrategyAndDeadline(90*time.Second,
+		wait.ForLog("database system is ready to accept connections").WithOccurrence(2),
+		wait.ForListeningPort("5432/tcp"),
+	)
+}