diff --git a/pkg/driver/mysql/mysql.go b/pkg/driver/mysql/mysql.go
index 818b8954..566b4fce 100644
--- a/pkg/driver/mysql/mysql.go
+++ b/pkg/driver/mysql/mysql.go
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/amacneil/dbmate/v2/pkg/dbmate"
 	"github.com/amacneil/dbmate/v2/pkg/dbutil"
 
-	_ "github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql" // database/sql driver
+	"github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql"
 )
 
 // for mocking out during tests
@@ -81,9 +81,38 @@ func connectionString(u *url.URL) string {
 	return normalizedString
 }
 
+// parseConfig parses a DSN and silences the driver's own logger. Otherwise
+// go-sql-driver prints lines like "packets.go:37: unexpected EOF" straight to
+// stderr, which is noise during --wait where a failed connection is expected
+// and dbmate already reports the real error itself.
+func parseConfig(dsn string) (*mysql.Config, error) {
+	config, err := mysql.ParseDSN(dsn)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	config.Logger = &mysql.NopLogger{}
+
+	return config, nil
+}
+
+// openConnection opens a connection using the given DSN.
+func openConnection(dsn string) (*sql.DB, error) {
+	config, err := parseConfig(dsn)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	connector, err := mysql.NewConnector(config)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return sql.OpenDB(connector), nil
+}
+
 // Open creates a new database connection
 func (drv *Driver) Open() (*sql.DB, error) {
-	return sql.Open("mysql", connectionString(drv.databaseURL))
+	return openConnection(connectionString(drv.databaseURL))
 }
 
 func (drv *Driver) openRootDB() (*sql.DB, error) {
@@ -96,7 +125,7 @@ func (drv *Driver) openRootDB() (*sql.DB, error) {
 	// connect to no particular database
 	rootURL.Path = "/"
 
-	return sql.Open("mysql", connectionString(rootURL))
+	return openConnection(connectionString(rootURL))
 }
 
 func (drv *Driver) quoteIdentifier(str string) string {
diff --git a/pkg/driver/mysql/mysql_test.go b/pkg/driver/mysql/mysql_test.go
index 532ef8b9..5f5b01e4 100644
--- a/pkg/driver/mysql/mysql_test.go
+++ b/pkg/driver/mysql/mysql_test.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/amacneil/dbmate/v2/pkg/dbtest"
 	"github.com/amacneil/dbmate/v2/pkg/dbutil"
 
+	"github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
@@ -118,6 +119,21 @@ func TestConnectionString(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestParseConfig(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("silences the driver logger", func(t *testing.T) {
+		u := dbtest.MustParseURL(t, "mysql://bob:secret@host:123/foo")
+
+		config, err := parseConfig(connectionString(u))
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.IsType(t, &mysql.NopLogger{}, config.Logger)
+	})
+
+	t.Run("returns an error for an invalid dsn", func(t *testing.T) {
+		_, err := parseConfig("this is not a valid dsn")
+		require.Error(t, err)
+	})
+}
+
 func TestMySQLCreateDropDatabase(t *testing.T) {
 	drv := testMySQLDriver(t)