diff --git a/lib/internal/fs/recursive_watch.js b/lib/internal/fs/recursive_watch.js
index ed146fa28bed8d..1bddfaa85ebf18 100644
--- a/lib/internal/fs/recursive_watch.js
+++ b/lib/internal/fs/recursive_watch.js
@@ -202,6 +202,9 @@ class FSWatcher extends EventEmitter {
         this.emit('change', 'rename', pathRelative(this.#rootPath, file));
       } else if (currentStats.isDirectory()) {
         this.#watchFolder(file);
+      } else if(!this.#watchingFile) {
+        // Watching a dircetory will trigger a change event for child files
+        this.emit('change', 'change', pathRelative(this.#rootPath, file));
       }
     });
   }
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-fs-watch-recursive.js b/test/parallel/test-fs-watch-recursive.js
index a4c22bfbd2ce11..e3612862d310fb 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-fs-watch-recursive.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-fs-watch-recursive.js
@@ -22,6 +22,37 @@ const tmpdir = require('../common/tmpdir');
 const testDir = tmpdir.path;
 tmpdir.refresh();
 
+(async () => {
+  // Watch a folder and update an already existing file in it.
+
+  const rootDirectory = fs.mkdtempSync(testDir + path.sep);
+  const testDirectory = path.join(rootDirectory, 'test-0');
+  fs.mkdirSync(testDirectory);
+
+  const testFile = path.join(testDirectory, 'file-1.txt');
+  fs.writeFileSync(testFile, 'hello');
+
+  const watcher = fs.watch(testDirectory, { recursive: true });
+  let watcherClosed = false;
+  watcher.on('change', common.mustCallAtLeast(function(event, filename) {
+    // libuv inconsistenly emits a rename event for the file we are watching
+    assert.ok(event === 'change' || event === 'rename');
+
+    if (filename === path.basename(testFile)) {
+      watcher.close();
+      watcherClosed = true;
+    }
+  }));
+
+  await setTimeout(common.platformTimeout(100));
+  fs.writeFileSync(testFile, 'hello');
+
+  process.once('exit', function() {
+    assert(watcherClosed, 'watcher Object was not closed');
+  });
+})().then(common.mustCall());
+
+
 (async () => {
   // Add a file to already watching folder