diff --git a/packages/webawesome/docs/docs/resources/changelog.md b/packages/webawesome/docs/docs/resources/changelog.md
index b86419fc9..fddd7d024 100644
--- a/packages/webawesome/docs/docs/resources/changelog.md
+++ b/packages/webawesome/docs/docs/resources/changelog.md
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ Components with the <wa-badge variant="warning">Experimental</wa-badge> badge sh
 
 - Fixed a bug in `<wa-slider>` that caused some touch devices to end up with the incorrect value [issue:1703]
 - Fixed a bug in `<wa-card>` that prevented some slots from being detected correctly [discuss:1450]
+- Improved performance of `<wa-icon>` so initial rendering occurs faster, especially with multiple icons on the page [issue:1729]
 
 ## 3.0.0
 
diff --git a/packages/webawesome/src/components/icon/icon.ts b/packages/webawesome/src/components/icon/icon.ts
index 785289805..d9e8d9760 100644
--- a/packages/webawesome/src/components/icon/icon.ts
+++ b/packages/webawesome/src/components/icon/icon.ts
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ export default class WaIcon extends WebAwesomeElement {
     }
   }
 
-  @watch(['family', 'name', 'library', 'variant', 'src', 'autoWidth', 'swapOpacity'])
+  @watch(['family', 'name', 'library', 'variant', 'src', 'autoWidth', 'swapOpacity'], { waitUntilFirstUpdate: true })
   async setIcon() {
     const { url, fromLibrary } = this.getIconSource();
     const library = fromLibrary ? getIconLibrary(this.library) : undefined;