diff --git a/components/notifications.js b/components/notifications.js
index 5e251b1f..b2215d8f 100644
--- a/components/notifications.js
+++ b/components/notifications.js
@@ -516,8 +516,15 @@ export default function Notifications ({ ssrData }) {
   const router = useRouter()
   const dat = useData(data, ssrData)
 
-  const { notifications: { notifications, lastChecked, cursor } } = useMemo(() => {
-    return dat || { notifications: {} }
+  const { notifications, lastChecked, cursor } = useMemo(() => {
+    if (!dat?.notifications) return {}
+
+    // make sure we're using the oldest lastChecked we've seen
+    const retDat = { ...dat.notifications }
+    if (ssrData?.notifications?.lastChecked < retDat.lastChecked) {
+      retDat.lastChecked = ssrData.notifications.lastChecked
+    }
+    return retDat
   }, [dat])
 
   useEffect(() => {
diff --git a/lib/apollo.js b/lib/apollo.js
index c724079f..5bafc082 100644
--- a/lib/apollo.js
+++ b/lib/apollo.js
@@ -29,10 +29,6 @@ function getClient (uri) {
   return new ApolloClient({
     link: new HttpLink({ uri }),
     ssrMode: SSR,
-    // we need to delay the cache-first check to wait for the cache to rehydrate from ssr
-    // occasionally, for queries like notifications, the cache is not populated when useQuery
-    // is called causing an additional network request
-    ssrForceFetchDelay: 250,
     connectToDevTools: process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production',
     cache: new InMemoryCache({
       freezeResults: true,
@@ -224,6 +220,7 @@ function getClient (uri) {
       }
     }),
     assumeImmutableResults: true,
+    queryDeduplication: true,
     defaultOptions: {
       watchQuery: {
         initialFetchPolicy: defaultFetchPolicy,