diff --git a/cron/cron_test.go b/cron/cron_test.go
index ca1a67c..966a31b 100644
--- a/cron/cron_test.go
+++ b/cron/cron_test.go
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package cron
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"io"
 	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ func (hook *testHook) Levels() []logrus.Level {
 
 func newTestLogger() (*logrus.Entry, chan *logrus.Entry) {
 	logger := logrus.New()
-	logger.Out = ioutil.Discard
+	logger.Out = io.Discard
 	logger.Level = logrus.DebugLevel
 
 	channel := make(chan *logrus.Entry, TEST_CHANNEL_BUFFER_SIZE)
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 4407503..93ea420 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/evalphobia/logrus_sentry v0.8.2
 	github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify v1.7.0
 	github.com/prometheus/client_golang v1.20.2
-	github.com/ramr/go-reaper v0.2.1
 	github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.9.3
 	github.com/stretchr/testify v1.9.0
 )
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 2e05da5..cb5ebe5 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -38,8 +38,6 @@ github.com/prometheus/common v0.57.0 h1:Ro/rKjwdq9mZn1K5QPctzh+MA4Lp0BuYk5ZZEVho
 github.com/prometheus/common v0.57.0/go.mod h1:7uRPFSUTbfZWsJ7MHY56sqt7hLQu3bxXHDnNhl8E9qI=
 github.com/prometheus/procfs v0.15.1 h1:YagwOFzUgYfKKHX6Dr+sHT7km/hxC76UB0learggepc=
 github.com/prometheus/procfs v0.15.1/go.mod h1:fB45yRUv8NstnjriLhBQLuOUt+WW4BsoGhij/e3PBqk=
-github.com/ramr/go-reaper v0.2.1 h1:zww+wlQOvTjBZuk1920R/e0GFEb6O7+B0WQLV6dM924=
-github.com/ramr/go-reaper v0.2.1/go.mod h1:AVypdzrcCXjSc/JYnlXl8TsB+z84WyFzxWE8Jh0MOJc=
 github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal v1.12.0 h1:exVL4IDcn6na9z1rAb56Vxr+CgyK3nn3O+epU5NdKM8=
 github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal v1.12.0/go.mod h1:E+RYuTGaKKdloAfM02xzb0FW3Paa99yedzYV+kq4uf4=
 github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.9.3 h1:dueUQJ1C2q9oE3F7wvmSGAaVtTmUizReu6fjN8uqzbQ=
diff --git a/integration/normal.crontab b/integration/normal.crontab
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a1a220
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration/normal.crontab
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+* * * * * * * echo 1
diff --git a/integration/test.bats b/integration/test.bats
index b418e87..5cf6b85 100755
--- a/integration/test.bats
+++ b/integration/test.bats
@@ -102,14 +102,34 @@ wait_for() {
   ! run_supercronic -test "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/invalid.crontab"
 }
 
-@test "reap zombie process" {
+@test "it run as pid 1 and reap zombie process" {
+  out="${WORK_DIR}/zombie-crontab-out"
+
   # run in new process namespace
   sudo timeout 10s unshare --fork --pid --mount-proc \
-     ${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/../supercronic "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/zombie.crontab" &
+     ${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/../supercronic "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/zombie.crontab"  >"$out" 2>&1 &
   local pid=$!
-  sleep 1.5
-  run bash -c "ps axo pid=,stat=|grep Z"
+  sleep 3
+
   kill -TERM ${pid}
-  
-  [[ "$status" -eq 1 ]]
+  # todo: use other method to detect zombie cleanup
+  wait_for grep "reaper cleanup: pid=" "$out"  
+}
+
+
+@test "it run as pid 1 and normal crontab no error" {
+  out="${WORK_DIR}/normal-crontab-out"
+
+  # sleep 30 seconds occur found bug
+  # FIXME: other way to detect
+  sudo timeout 30s unshare --fork --pid --mount-proc \
+  "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/../supercronic" "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/normal.crontab" >"$out" 2>&1 &
+  # https://github.com/aptible/supercronic/issues/171
+  local pid=$!
+  local foundErr
+ 
+  sleep 29.5
+  kill -TERM ${pid}
+  grep "waitid: no child processes" "$out" && foundErr=1
+  [[ $foundErr != 1 ]]
 }
diff --git a/integration/zombie.crontab b/integration/zombie.crontab
index 01c6000..b342fc4 100644
--- a/integration/zombie.crontab
+++ b/integration/zombie.crontab
@@ -1 +1 @@
-* * * * * * * /bin/sleep 1 & exec /bin/sleep 0
\ No newline at end of file
+* * * * * * * /bin/sleep 0.1 & exec /bin/sleep 0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/log/hook/splitstream.go b/log/hook/splitstream.go
index 2ec293a..fcdd688 100644
--- a/log/hook/splitstream.go
+++ b/log/hook/splitstream.go
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 package hook
 
 import (
-	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"io"
-	"io/ioutil"
+
+	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
 
 type writerHook struct {
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ func (h *writerHook) Fire(entry *logrus.Entry) error {
 }
 
 func RegisterSplitLogger(logger *logrus.Logger, outWriter io.Writer, errWriter io.Writer) {
-	logger.SetOutput(ioutil.Discard)
+	logger.SetOutput(io.Discard)
 
 	logger.AddHook(&writerHook{
 		writer: outWriter,
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 2b06036..6874155 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/aptible/supercronic/prometheus_metrics"
 	"github.com/evalphobia/logrus_sentry"
 	"github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify"
-	reaper "github.com/ramr/go-reaper"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
 
@@ -31,6 +30,8 @@ func main() {
 	json := flag.Bool("json", false, "enable JSON logging")
 	test := flag.Bool("test", false, "test crontab (does not run jobs)")
 	inotify := flag.Bool("inotify", false, "use inotify to detect crontab file changes")
+	// If this flag changes, update forkExec to disable reaping in the child process
+	disableReap := flag.Bool("no-reap", false, "disable reaping of dead processes, note: reaping requires pid 1")
 	prometheusListen := flag.String(
 		"prometheus-listen-address",
 		"",
@@ -101,7 +102,19 @@ func main() {
 		os.Exit(2)
 		return
 	}
-
+	if !*disableReap {
+		if os.Getpid() == 1 {
+			// Clean up zombie processes caused by incorrect crontab commands
+			// Use forkExec to avoid random waitid errors
+			// https://github.com/aptible/supercronic/issues/88
+			// https://github.com/aptible/supercronic/issues/171
+			logrus.Info("reaping dead processes")
+			forkExec()
+			return
+		}
+		
+		logrus.Warn("process reaping disabled, not pid 1")
+	}
 	crontabFileName := flag.Args()[0]
 
 	var watcher *fsnotify.Watcher
@@ -165,12 +178,8 @@ func main() {
 		}()
 	}
 
-	//  Start background reaping of orphaned child processes.
-	go reaper.Reap()
-	// _ = reaper.Reap
-
 	termChan := make(chan os.Signal, 1)
-	signal.Notify(termChan, syscall.SIGINT, syscall.SIGTERM, syscall.SIGQUIT, syscall.SIGUSR2)
+	signal.Notify(termChan, signalList...)
 
 	if *inotify {
 		go func() {
@@ -266,3 +275,7 @@ func readCrontabAtPath(path string) (*crontab.Crontab, error) {
 
 	return crontab.ParseCrontab(file)
 }
+
+var signalList = []os.Signal{
+	syscall.SIGINT, syscall.SIGTERM, syscall.SIGQUIT, syscall.SIGUSR2,
+}
diff --git a/reaper.go b/reaper.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a271bbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/reaper.go
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"os/signal"
+	"syscall"
+
+	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+)
+
+func forkExec() {
+
+	// run supercronic in other process
+	pwd, err := os.Getwd()
+	if err != nil {
+		logrus.Fatalf("Failed to get current working directory: %s", err.Error())
+		return
+	}
+
+	pattrs := &syscall.ProcAttr{
+		Dir: pwd,
+		Env: os.Environ(),
+		Files: []uintptr{
+			uintptr(syscall.Stdin),
+			uintptr(syscall.Stdout),
+			uintptr(syscall.Stderr),
+		},
+	}
+	args := make([]string, 0, len(os.Args)+1)
+	// disable reaping for supercronic, avoid no sense warning
+	args = append(args, os.Args[0], "-no-reap")
+	args = append(args, os.Args[1:]...)
+
+	pid, err := syscall.ForkExec(args[0], args, pattrs)
+	if err != nil {
+		logrus.Fatalf("Failed to fork exec: %s", err.Error())
+		return
+	}
+
+	// forward signal to supercronic
+	signalToFork(pid)
+	// got supercronic exit status
+	wstatus := reapChildren(pid)
+	os.Exit(wstatus.ExitStatus())
+}
+
+func signalToFork(pid int) {
+	p, err := os.FindProcess(pid)
+	if err != nil {
+		logrus.Fatalf("Failed findProcess supercronic pid:%d,%s", pid, err.Error())
+	}
+	termChan := make(chan os.Signal, 1)
+	signal.Notify(termChan, signalList...)
+	go func() {
+		for {
+			s := <-termChan
+			if err := p.Signal(s); err != nil {
+				logrus.Errorf("Failed to send signal to supercronic: %s", err.Error())
+			}
+		}
+	}()
+}
+
+// copy from https://github.com/ramr/go-reaper
+// modify for wait exit status of supercronic
+// without modify, supercronic exit status may not be obtained
+
+// Be a good parent - clean up behind the children.
+func reapChildren(superCrondPid int) syscall.WaitStatus {
+	var notifications = make(chan os.Signal, 1)
+
+	go sigChildHandler(notifications)
+
+	// all child
+	const rpid = -1
+	var wstatus syscall.WaitStatus
+
+	for {
+		var sig = <-notifications
+		logrus.Debugf("reaper received signal %v\n", sig)
+		for {
+			pid, err := syscall.Wait4(rpid, &wstatus, 0, nil)
+			for syscall.EINTR == err {
+				pid, err = syscall.Wait4(pid, &wstatus, 0, nil)
+			}
+
+			if syscall.ECHILD == err {
+				break
+			}
+
+			if superCrondPid == pid {
+				logrus.Debugf("supercronic exit, pid=%d, wstatus=%+v, err=%+v\n", pid, wstatus, err)
+				return wstatus
+			}
+			// note: change output need change test
+			logrus.Warnf("reaper cleanup: pid=%d, wstatus=%+v\n",
+				pid, wstatus)
+		}
+	}
+
+}
+
+// Handle death of child (SIGCHLD) messages. Pushes the signal onto the
+// notifications channel if there is a waiter.
+func sigChildHandler(notifications chan os.Signal) {
+	var sigs = make(chan os.Signal, 3)
+	signal.Notify(sigs, syscall.SIGCHLD)
+
+	for {
+		var sig = <-sigs
+		select {
+		case notifications <- sig: /*  published it.  */
+		default:
+			/*
+			 *  Notifications channel full - drop it to the
+			 *  floor. This ensures we don't fill up the SIGCHLD
+			 *  queue. The reaper just waits for any child
+			 *  process (pid=-1), so we ain't loosing it!! ;^)
+			 */
+		}
+	}
+
+} /*  End of function  sigChildHandler.  */