diff --git a/src/Messages.jl b/src/Messages.jl
index 25c188eea..6baa35835 100644
--- a/src/Messages.jl
+++ b/src/Messages.jl
@@ -177,6 +177,8 @@ Represents a HTTP Request Message.
 
 - `response`, the `Response` to this `Request`
 
+- `txcount`, number of times this `Request` has been sent (see RetryRequest.jl).
+
 - `parent`, the `Response` (if any) that led to this request
   (e.g. in the case of a redirect).
    [RFC7230 6.4](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-6.4)
@@ -188,6 +190,7 @@ mutable struct Request <: Message
     headers::Headers
     body::Vector{UInt8}
     response::Response
+    txcount::Int
     parent
 end
 
@@ -201,6 +204,7 @@ function Request(method::String, target, headers=[], body=UInt8[];
                 mkheaders(headers),
                 bytes(body),
                 Response(0),
+                0,
                 parent)
     r.response.request = r
     return r
diff --git a/src/RetryRequest.jl b/src/RetryRequest.jl
index aec644c55..32416cf58 100644
--- a/src/RetryRequest.jl
+++ b/src/RetryRequest.jl
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ isrecoverable(e, req, retry_non_idempotent) =
     isrecoverable(e) &&
     !(req.body === body_was_streamed) &&
     !(req.response.body === body_was_streamed) &&
-    (retry_non_idempotent || isidempotent(req))
+    (retry_non_idempotent || req.txcount == 0 || isidempotent(req))
     # "MUST NOT automatically retry a request with a non-idempotent method"
     # https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7230#section-6.3.1
 
diff --git a/src/StreamRequest.jl b/src/StreamRequest.jl
index 28221e978..e8b7874e2 100644
--- a/src/StreamRequest.jl
+++ b/src/StreamRequest.jl
@@ -41,13 +41,19 @@ function request(::Type{StreamLayer}, io::IO, request::Request, body;
         end
     end
 
+    if !isidempotent(request)
+        # Wait for pipelined reads to complete
+        # before sending non-idempotent request body.
+        startread(io)
+    end
+
     aborted = false
     try
 
         @sync begin
+
             if iofunction == nothing
                 @async writebody(http, request, body)
-                yield()
                 startread(http)
                 readbody(http, response, response_stream)
             else
@@ -61,9 +67,10 @@ function request(::Type{StreamLayer}, io::IO, request::Request, body;
         end
 
     catch e
-        if aborted &&
-           e isa CompositeException &&
-           (ex = first(e.exceptions).ex; isioerror(ex))
+        if e isa CompositeException
+           e = first(e.exceptions).ex
+        end
+        if aborted && isioerror(e)
             @debug 1 "⚠️  $(response.status) abort exception excpeted: $ex"
         else
             rethrow(e)
@@ -88,6 +95,8 @@ function writebody(http::Stream, req::Request, body)
         write(http, req.body)
     end
 
+    req.txcount += 1
+
     if isidempotent(req)
         closewrite(http)
     else
diff --git a/src/Streams.jl b/src/Streams.jl
index 98b3dc666..529159cd0 100644
--- a/src/Streams.jl
+++ b/src/Streams.jl
@@ -139,7 +139,9 @@ IOExtras.isreadable(http::Stream) = isreadable(http.stream)
 
 function IOExtras.startread(http::Stream)
 
-    startread(http.stream)
+    if !isreadable(http.stream)
+        startread(http.stream)
+    end
 
     readheaders(http.stream, http.message)
     handle_continue(http)
@@ -160,7 +162,6 @@ function handle_continue(http::Stream{Response})
         @debug 1 "✅  Continue:   $(http.stream)"
         readheaders(http.stream, http.message)
     end
-
 end
 
 function handle_continue(http::Stream{Request})