diff --git a/apollo-router/src/plugins/mock_subgraphs/mod.rs b/apollo-router/src/plugins/mock_subgraphs/mod.rs
index 37a37be5fa..9ac662afaa 100644
--- a/apollo-router/src/plugins/mock_subgraphs/mod.rs
+++ b/apollo-router/src/plugins/mock_subgraphs/mod.rs
@@ -120,6 +120,9 @@ impl PluginPrivate for MockSubgraphsPlugin {
             let config = config.clone();
             let subgraph_schema = subgraph_schema.clone();
             async move {
+                // WARN: REMOVE ME BEFORE MERGING! here to demonstrate the fix
+                dbg!(request.subgraph_request.body());
+
                 let mut response = http::Response::builder();
                 let body = if let Some(config) = &config {
                     *response.headers_mut().unwrap() = config.headers.0.clone();
diff --git a/apollo-router/tests/common.rs b/apollo-router/tests/common.rs
index 9816de8e1f..dde3fcff4a 100644
--- a/apollo-router/tests/common.rs
+++ b/apollo-router/tests/common.rs
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@ pub struct IntegrationTest {
     router_location: PathBuf,
     stdio_tx: tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender<String>,
     stdio_rx: tokio::sync::mpsc::Receiver<String>,
+    stderr_tx: tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender<String>,
     apollo_otlp_metrics_rx: tokio::sync::mpsc::Receiver<ExportMetricsServiceRequest>,
     collect_stdio: Option<(tokio::sync::oneshot::Sender<String>, regex::Regex)>,
     _subgraphs: wiremock::MockServer,
@@ -662,6 +663,16 @@ impl IntegrationTest {
         fs::copy(&supergraph, &test_schema_location).expect("could not write schema");
 
         let (stdio_tx, stdio_rx) = tokio::sync::mpsc::channel(2000);
+        // we separate stderr and stdio (previously they were both just handled by a single
+        // channel) to avoid congestion in one to contend the other
+
+        let (stderr_tx, mut stderr_rx) = tokio::sync::mpsc::channel::<String>(2000);
+        // we want to continually drain stderr, not let it build up backpressure
+        task::spawn(async move {
+            while stderr_rx.recv().await.is_some() {
+                // we discard stderr to prevent backpressure
+            }
+        });
         let collect_stdio = collect_stdio.map(|sender| {
             let version_line_re = regex::Regex::new("Apollo Router v[^ ]+ ").unwrap();
             (sender, version_line_re)
@@ -693,6 +704,7 @@ impl IntegrationTest {
             test_schema_location,
             stdio_tx,
             stdio_rx,
+            stderr_tx,
             apollo_otlp_metrics_rx,
             collect_stdio,
             _subgraphs: subgraphs,
@@ -847,12 +859,14 @@ impl IntegrationTest {
             }
         });
 
-        // Also read from stderr to capture error messages
-        let stderr_tx = self.stdio_tx.clone();
+        // we separate out stderr to avoid congestion there affecting stdout; previous to this, we
+        // had both stdout and stderr in the same channel, allowing one's congestion to swamp the other
+        let stderr_tx = self.stderr_tx.clone();
         task::spawn(async move {
             let mut lines = stderr_reader.lines();
             while let Ok(Some(line)) = lines.next_line().await {
-                let _ = stderr_tx.send(line).await;
+                // try_send to never block - if the channel is full, just drop the line
+                let _ = stderr_tx.try_send(line);
             }
         });
         self.router = Some(router);