diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/config/config.go b/pkg/kubelet/config/config.go
index ae2701cd3be..49467a10769 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/config/config.go
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ type PodConfig struct {
 // NewPodConfig creates an object that can merge many configuration sources into a stream
 // of normalized updates to a pod configuration.
 func NewPodConfig(mode PodConfigNotificationMode) *PodConfig {
-	updates := make(chan kubelet.PodUpdate, 1)
+	updates := make(chan kubelet.PodUpdate, 50)
 	storage := newPodStorage(updates, mode)
 	podConfig := &PodConfig{
 		pods:    storage,
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
index 1507115c72c..3d34044073e 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
@@ -1389,24 +1389,25 @@ func filterHostPortConflicts(pods []api.BoundPod) []api.BoundPod {
 // state every sync_frequency seconds. Never returns.
 func (kl *Kubelet) syncLoop(updates <-chan PodUpdate, handler SyncHandler) {
 	for {
+		unsyncedPod := false
 		select {
 		case u := <-updates:
-			switch u.Op {
-			case SET:
-				glog.V(3).Infof("SET: Containers changed")
-				kl.pods = u.Pods
-				kl.pods = filterHostPortConflicts(kl.pods)
-			case UPDATE:
-				glog.V(3).Infof("Update: Containers changed")
-				kl.pods = updateBoundPods(u.Pods, kl.pods)
-				kl.pods = filterHostPortConflicts(kl.pods)
-
-			default:
-				panic("syncLoop does not support incremental changes")
-			}
+			kl.updatePods(u)
+			unsyncedPod = true
 		case <-time.After(kl.resyncInterval):
 			glog.V(4).Infof("Periodic sync")
 		}
+		// If we already caught some update, try to wait for some short time
+		// to possibly batch it with other incoming updates.
+		for ; unsyncedPod; {
+			select {
+				case u := <-updates:
+					kl.updatePods(u)
+				case <-time.After(5 * time.Millisecond):
+					// Break the for loop.
+					unsyncedPod = false
+			}
+		}
 
 		err := handler.SyncPods(kl.pods)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -1415,6 +1416,21 @@ func (kl *Kubelet) syncLoop(updates <-chan PodUpdate, handler SyncHandler) {
 	}
 }
 
+func (kl *Kubelet) updatePods(u PodUpdate) {
+	switch u.Op {
+		case SET:
+			glog.V(3).Infof("SET: Containers changed")
+			kl.pods = u.Pods
+			kl.pods = filterHostPortConflicts(kl.pods)
+		case UPDATE:
+			glog.V(3).Infof("Update: Containers changed")
+			kl.pods = updateBoundPods(u.Pods, kl.pods)
+			kl.pods = filterHostPortConflicts(kl.pods)
+		default:
+			panic("syncLoop does not support incremental changes")
+	}
+}
+
 // Returns Docker version for this Kubelet.
 func (kl *Kubelet) GetDockerVersion() ([]uint, error) {
 	if kl.dockerClient == nil {