diff --git a/syncapi/consumers/eduserver_sendtodevice.go b/syncapi/consumers/eduserver_sendtodevice.go
index 2e9176745..40257ed56 100644
--- a/syncapi/consumers/eduserver_sendtodevice.go
+++ b/syncapi/consumers/eduserver_sendtodevice.go
@@ -93,8 +93,10 @@ func (s *OutputSendToDeviceEventConsumer) onMessage(msg *sarama.ConsumerMessage)
 		"event_type": output.Type,
 	}).Info("sync API received send-to-device event from EDU server")
 
+	streamPos := s.db.AddSendToDevice()
+
 	_, err = s.db.StoreNewSendForDeviceMessage(
-		context.TODO(), output.UserID, output.DeviceID, output.SendToDeviceEvent,
+		context.TODO(), streamPos, output.UserID, output.DeviceID, output.SendToDeviceEvent,
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.WithError(err).Errorf("failed to store send-to-device message")
@@ -104,7 +106,7 @@ func (s *OutputSendToDeviceEventConsumer) onMessage(msg *sarama.ConsumerMessage)
 	s.notifier.OnNewSendToDevice(
 		output.UserID,
 		[]string{output.DeviceID}, // TODO: support wildcard here as per spec
-		types.NewStreamToken(0, 1),
+		types.NewStreamToken(0, streamPos),
 	)
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/syncapi/storage/interface.go b/syncapi/storage/interface.go
index ec0f4de39..d40cbe847 100644
--- a/syncapi/storage/interface.go
+++ b/syncapi/storage/interface.go
@@ -104,12 +104,14 @@ type Database interface {
 	StreamEventsToEvents(device *authtypes.Device, in []types.StreamEvent) []gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent
 	// SyncStreamPosition returns the latest position in the sync stream. Returns 0 if there are no events yet.
 	SyncStreamPosition(ctx context.Context) (types.StreamPosition, error)
+	// AddSendToDevice increases the EDU position in the cache and returns the stream position.
+	AddSendToDevice() types.StreamPosition
 	// SendToDeviceUpdatesForSync returns a list of send-to-device updates, after having completed
 	// updates and deletions for previous events. The sync token should be supplied to this function so
 	// that we can clean up old events properly.
 	SendToDeviceUpdatesForSync(ctx context.Context, userID, deviceID string, token types.StreamingToken) ([]types.SendToDeviceEvent, []types.SendToDeviceNID, []types.SendToDeviceNID, error)
 	// StoreNewSendForDeviceMessage stores a new send-to-device event for a user's device.
-	StoreNewSendForDeviceMessage(ctx context.Context, userID, deviceID string, event gomatrixserverlib.SendToDeviceEvent) (types.StreamPosition, error)
+	StoreNewSendForDeviceMessage(ctx context.Context, streamPos types.StreamPosition, userID, deviceID string, event gomatrixserverlib.SendToDeviceEvent) (types.StreamPosition, error)
 	// CleanSendToDeviceUpdates will update or remove any send-to-device updates based on the given sync.
 	CleanSendToDeviceUpdates(ctx context.Context, toUpdate, toDelete []types.SendToDeviceNID, token types.StreamingToken) (err error)
 }
diff --git a/syncapi/storage/postgres/send_to_device_table.go b/syncapi/storage/postgres/send_to_device_table.go
index 64591d796..a995a5275 100644
--- a/syncapi/storage/postgres/send_to_device_table.go
+++ b/syncapi/storage/postgres/send_to_device_table.go
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ const selectSendToDeviceMessagesSQL = `
 	SELECT id, user_id, device_id, content, sent_by_token
 	  FROM syncapi_send_to_device
 	  WHERE user_id = $1 AND device_id = $2
+	  ORDER BY id DESC
 `
 
 const updateSentSendToDeviceMessagesSQL = `
diff --git a/syncapi/storage/shared/syncserver.go b/syncapi/storage/shared/syncserver.go
index 9448489af..10967b76e 100644
--- a/syncapi/storage/shared/syncserver.go
+++ b/syncapi/storage/shared/syncserver.go
@@ -91,6 +91,10 @@ func (d *Database) RemoveTypingUser(
 	return types.StreamPosition(d.EDUCache.RemoveUser(userID, roomID))
 }
 
+func (d *Database) AddSendToDevice() types.StreamPosition {
+	return types.StreamPosition(d.EDUCache.AddSendToDeviceMessage())
+}
+
 func (d *Database) SetTypingTimeoutCallback(fn cache.TimeoutCallbackFn) {
 	d.EDUCache.SetTimeoutCallback(fn)
 }
@@ -1041,11 +1045,11 @@ func (d *Database) AddSendToDeviceEvent(
 }
 
 func (d *Database) StoreNewSendForDeviceMessage(
-	ctx context.Context, userID, deviceID string, event gomatrixserverlib.SendToDeviceEvent,
+	ctx context.Context, streamPos types.StreamPosition, userID, deviceID string, event gomatrixserverlib.SendToDeviceEvent,
 ) (types.StreamPosition, error) {
 	j, err := json.Marshal(event)
 	if err != nil {
-		return 0, err
+		return streamPos, err
 	}
 	// Delegate the database write task to the SendToDeviceWriter. It'll guarantee
 	// that we don't lock the table for writes in more than one place.
@@ -1055,9 +1059,9 @@ func (d *Database) StoreNewSendForDeviceMessage(
 		)
 	})
 	if err != nil {
-		return 0, err
+		return streamPos, err
 	}
-	return types.StreamPosition(d.EDUCache.AddSendToDeviceMessage()), nil
+	return streamPos, nil
 }
 
 func (d *Database) SendToDeviceUpdatesForSync(
diff --git a/syncapi/storage/sqlite3/send_to_device_table.go b/syncapi/storage/sqlite3/send_to_device_table.go
index 9ba8fe055..80f120222 100644
--- a/syncapi/storage/sqlite3/send_to_device_table.go
+++ b/syncapi/storage/sqlite3/send_to_device_table.go
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ const selectSendToDeviceMessagesSQL = `
 	SELECT id, user_id, device_id, content, sent_by_token
 	  FROM syncapi_send_to_device
 	  WHERE user_id = $1 AND device_id = $2
+	  ORDER BY id DESC
 `
 
 const updateSentSendToDeviceMessagesSQL = `
diff --git a/syncapi/storage/storage_test.go b/syncapi/storage/storage_test.go
index 792ba1c9d..4661ede4d 100644
--- a/syncapi/storage/storage_test.go
+++ b/syncapi/storage/storage_test.go
@@ -537,7 +537,7 @@ func TestSendToDeviceBehaviour(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	// Try sending a message.
-	streamPos, err := db.StoreNewSendForDeviceMessage(ctx, "alice", "one", gomatrixserverlib.SendToDeviceEvent{
+	streamPos, err := db.StoreNewSendForDeviceMessage(ctx, types.StreamPosition(0), "alice", "one", gomatrixserverlib.SendToDeviceEvent{
 		Sender:  "bob",
 		Type:    "m.type",
 		Content: json.RawMessage("{}"),