diff --git a/lib/internal/child_process.js b/lib/internal/child_process.js
index 6d1c22d03b48ee..328a67d1ef0962 100644
--- a/lib/internal/child_process.js
+++ b/lib/internal/child_process.js
@@ -766,7 +766,7 @@ function _validateStdio(stdio, sync) {
     } else if (typeof stdio === 'number' || typeof stdio.fd === 'number') {
       acc.push({
         type: 'fd',
-        fd: stdio.fd || stdio
+        fd: typeof stdio === 'number' ? stdio : stdio.fd
       });
     } else if (getHandleWrapType(stdio) || getHandleWrapType(stdio.handle) ||
                getHandleWrapType(stdio._handle)) {