diff --git a/Sources/Inotify/Inotify.swift b/Sources/Inotify/Inotify.swift
index 3d5d856..475588a 100644
--- a/Sources/Inotify/Inotify.swift
+++ b/Sources/Inotify/Inotify.swift
@@ -11,12 +11,24 @@ public actor Inotify {
 		self.eventStream.compactMap(self.transform(_:))
 	}
 
-	public init() throws {
+	/// Creates an inotify instance.
+	///
+	/// Events are read from the kernel as soon as they arrive and buffered
+	/// until they are consumed from ``events``.
+	///
+	/// - Parameter bufferingPolicy: How events are kept while no consumer is
+	///   reading ``events``. The default `.unbounded` keeps every event, so a
+	///   burst of changes is never lost; a bounded policy trades memory for
+	///   dropped events.
+	public init(bufferingPolicy: AsyncStream<RawInotifyEvent>.Continuation.BufferingPolicy = .unbounded) throws {
 		self.fd = inotify_init1(CInt(IN_NONBLOCK | IN_CLOEXEC))
 		guard self.fd >= 0 else {
 			throw InotifyError.initFailed(errno: cinotify_get_errno())
 		}
-		(self.eventReader, self.eventStream) = Self.createEventReader(forFileDescriptor: fd)
+		(self.eventReader, self.eventStream) = Self.createEventReader(
+			forFileDescriptor: fd,
+			bufferingPolicy: bufferingPolicy
+		)
 	}
 
 	public func isExcluded(_ name: String) -> Bool {
@@ -99,10 +111,13 @@ public actor Inotify {
 		let _ = try? await self.addWatchWithAutomaticSubtreeWatching(forDirectory: event.path.string, mask: mask)
 	}
 
-	private static func createEventReader(forFileDescriptor fd: CInt) -> (any DispatchSourceRead, AsyncStream<RawInotifyEvent>) {
+	private static func createEventReader(
+		forFileDescriptor fd: CInt,
+		bufferingPolicy: AsyncStream<RawInotifyEvent>.Continuation.BufferingPolicy
+	) -> (any DispatchSourceRead, AsyncStream<RawInotifyEvent>) {
 		let (stream, continuation) = AsyncStream<RawInotifyEvent>.makeStream(
 			of: RawInotifyEvent.self,
-			bufferingPolicy: .bufferingNewest(512)
+			bufferingPolicy: bufferingPolicy
 		)
 
 		let reader = DispatchSource.makeReadSource(
diff --git a/Tests/InotifyIntegrationTests/BufferingTests.swift b/Tests/InotifyIntegrationTests/BufferingTests.swift
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5155952
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/InotifyIntegrationTests/BufferingTests.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+import Foundation
+import Testing
+@testable import Inotify
+
+@Suite("Event Buffering")
+struct BufferingTests {
+	@Test func deliversEveryEventOfABurstToALateConsumer() async throws {
+		try await withTempDir { dir in
+			let fileCount = 1000
+			let watcher = try Inotify()
+			try await watcher.addWatch(path: dir, mask: .create)
+
+			for index in 0..<fileCount {
+				try createFile(at: "\(dir)/file-\(index).txt")
+			}
+			try await Task.sleep(for: .milliseconds(500))
+
+			let eventTask = Task {
+				var events: [InotifyEvent] = []
+				for await event in await watcher.events {
+					events.append(event)
+				}
+				return events
+			}
+			try await Task.sleep(for: .seconds(1))
+			eventTask.cancel()
+			let events = await eventTask.value
+
+			#expect(events.count == fileCount, "Expected \(fileCount) CREATE events, got \(events.count)")
+		}
+	}
+}