diff --git a/backend/danswer/background/update.py b/backend/danswer/background/update.py
index 9c8317734..59e2de6b6 100755
--- a/backend/danswer/background/update.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/background/update.py
@@ -271,6 +271,8 @@ def kickoff_indexing_jobs(
     # Don't include jobs waiting in the Dask queue that just haven't started running
     # Also (rarely) don't include for jobs that started but haven't updated the indexing tables yet
     with Session(engine) as db_session:
+        # get_not_started_index_attempts orders its returned results from oldest to newest
+        # we must process attempts in a FIFO manner to prevent connector starvation
         new_indexing_attempts = [
             (attempt, attempt.embedding_model)
             for attempt in get_not_started_index_attempts(db_session)
diff --git a/backend/danswer/db/index_attempt.py b/backend/danswer/db/index_attempt.py
index 91b13cfd6..5a86a3e53 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/db/index_attempt.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/db/index_attempt.py
@@ -65,9 +65,12 @@ def get_inprogress_index_attempts(
 
 def get_not_started_index_attempts(db_session: Session) -> list[IndexAttempt]:
     """This eagerly loads the connector and credential so that the db_session can be expired
-    before running long-living indexing jobs, which causes increasing memory usage"""
+    before running long-living indexing jobs, which causes increasing memory usage.
+
+    Results are ordered by time_created (oldest to newest)."""
     stmt = select(IndexAttempt)
     stmt = stmt.where(IndexAttempt.status == IndexingStatus.NOT_STARTED)
+    stmt = stmt.order_by(IndexAttempt.time_created)
     stmt = stmt.options(
         joinedload(IndexAttempt.connector), joinedload(IndexAttempt.credential)
     )