diff --git a/datadog_lambda/config.py b/datadog_lambda/config.py
index ce4924af..5de4993b 100644
--- a/datadog_lambda/config.py
+++ b/datadog_lambda/config.py
@@ -152,10 +152,3 @@ def _reset(self):
 # unset css aliases to ensure it is disabled
 if "DD_TRACE_COMPUTE_STATS" in os.environ:
     del os.environ["DD_TRACE_COMPUTE_STATS"]
-
-if (
-    "DD_INSTRUMENTATION_TELEMETRY_ENABLED" not in os.environ
-    and not config.sca_enabled
-    and not config.appsec_enabled
-):
-    os.environ["DD_INSTRUMENTATION_TELEMETRY_ENABLED"] = "false"
diff --git a/datadog_lambda/tracing.py b/datadog_lambda/tracing.py
index 3c7d9f11..17be479a 100644
--- a/datadog_lambda/tracing.py
+++ b/datadog_lambda/tracing.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 
 from ddtrace import patch
 from ddtrace import __version__ as ddtrace_version
+from ddtrace.internal.telemetry import telemetry_writer
 from ddtrace.propagation.http import HTTPPropagator
 from ddtrace.trace import Context, Span, tracer
 
@@ -1509,6 +1510,10 @@ def create_function_execution_span(
                 pointer_hash=span_pointer_description.pointer_hash,
                 extra_attributes=span_pointer_description.extra_attributes,
             )
+
+    if is_cold_start:
+        telemetry_writer.periodic(force_flush=True)
+
     return span