diff --git a/internal/lib/sandbox/namespaces.go b/internal/lib/sandbox/namespaces.go
index 968f9f36995..da555c6c8de 100644
--- a/internal/lib/sandbox/namespaces.go
+++ b/internal/lib/sandbox/namespaces.go
@@ -305,7 +305,14 @@ func infraPid(infra *oci.Container) int {
 	if infra != nil {
 		var err error
 		pid, err = infra.Pid()
-		if err != nil {
+		// There are some cases where ErrNotInitialized is expected.
+		// For instance, when we're creating a pod sandbox while managing namespace lifecycle,
+		// we create the network stack before we create the infra container.
+		// Since we're pinning namespaces, we already have the namespace we need.
+		// Later users of this pid will either find we have a valid pinned namespace (which we will in this case),
+		// or find we have an invalid /proc entry (a negative pid).
+		// Thus, we don't need to error here if the pid is not initialized
+		if err != nil && err != oci.ErrNotInitialized {
 			logrus.Errorf("pid for infra container %s not found: %v", infra.ID(), err)
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/internal/oci/container.go b/internal/oci/container.go
index be82aec704f..745f895021e 100644
--- a/internal/oci/container.go
+++ b/internal/oci/container.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ var (
 	defaultStopSignal   = strconv.Itoa(defaultStopSignalInt)
 	ErrContainerStopped = errors.New("container is already stopped")
 	ErrNotFound         = errors.New("container process not found")
+	ErrNotInitialized   = errors.New("container PID not initialized")
 )
 
 // Container represents a runtime container.
@@ -413,10 +414,10 @@ func (c *Container) Pid() (int, error) {
 // and it is the same process that was originally started by the runtime.
 func (c *Container) pid() (int, error) {
 	if c.state == nil {
-		return 0, errors.New("state not initialized")
+		return 0, ErrNotInitialized
 	}
 	if c.state.InitPid <= 0 {
-		return 0, errors.New("PID not initialized")
+		return 0, ErrNotInitialized
 	}
 
 	// container has stopped (as pid is initialized but the runc state has overwritten it)