diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index e1007f3..66f1613 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
         "babel-plugin-import-map": "^1.0.0",
         "es-module-shims": "^2.0.0",
         "esbuild": "^0.17.14",
+        "lodash": "^4.17.21",
         "raw-loader": "^4.0.2",
         "react": "^18.2.0",
         "react-dom": "^18.2.0",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 841b644..003488b 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
     "babel-plugin-import-map": "^1.0.0",
     "es-module-shims": "^2.0.0",
     "esbuild": "^0.17.14",
+    "lodash": "^4.17.21",
     "raw-loader": "^4.0.2",
     "react": "^18.2.0",
     "react-dom": "^18.2.0",
diff --git a/src/widget.tsx b/src/widget.tsx
index a58c03a..2a74735 100644
--- a/src/widget.tsx
+++ b/src/widget.tsx
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import { transform } from "sucrase";
 import { ErrorBoundary, JupyterWidget } from "./components";
 import { Root } from "react-dom/client";
 import { ModelDestroyOptions } from "backbone";
+import { isEqual } from "lodash";
 
 declare function importShim<Default, Exports extends object>(
   specifier: string,
@@ -728,6 +729,24 @@ export class ReactModel extends DOMWidgetModel {
           }
           this.listenTo(this, `change:${key}`, updateChildren);
         }
+        // If props or children were updated while we were initializing the view,
+        // we want to do a rerender
+        const checkPropsChange = async () => {
+          const [currentProps, currentChildren] = await Promise.all([
+            replaceWidgetWithComponent(this.get("props"), get_model),
+            replaceWidgetWithComponent(
+              { children: this.get("children") },
+              get_model,
+            ),
+          ]);
+          if (!isEqual(currentProps, initialModelProps)) {
+            updateModelProps();
+          }
+          if (!isEqual(currentChildren, initialChildrenComponents)) {
+            updateChildren();
+          }
+        };
+        this.enqueue(checkPropsChange);
         return () => {
           this.stopListening(this, "change:props", updateModelProps);
           this.stopListening(this, "change:children", updateChildren);
diff --git a/tests/ui/children_test.py b/tests/ui/basics_test.py
similarity index 71%
rename from tests/ui/children_test.py
rename to tests/ui/basics_test.py
index b62fbe7..8054a08 100644
--- a/tests/ui/children_test.py
+++ b/tests/ui/basics_test.py
@@ -58,3 +58,27 @@ def on_click(event_data):
     button.click()
     # not per se a direct child
     page_session.locator(".test-button >> .test-html").wait_for()
+
+
+def test_update_children_after_create(solara_test, page_session: playwright.sync_api.Page):
+    b = ipyreact.Widget(
+        _type="button",
+        children=["Initial"],
+        props={"class": "test-button"},
+    )
+    b.children = ["Updated"]
+
+    display(b)
+    page_session.locator(".test-button >> text=Updated").wait_for()
+
+
+def test_update_props_after_create(solara_test, page_session: playwright.sync_api.Page):
+    b = ipyreact.Widget(
+        _type="button",
+        children=["Button"],
+        props={"class": "test-button-initial"},
+    )
+    b.props = {"class": "test-button-updated"}
+
+    display(b)
+    page_session.locator(".test-button-updated >> text=Button").wait_for()