diff --git a/doc/dox_comments/header_files/ssl.h b/doc/dox_comments/header_files/ssl.h
index a1f498117..203fd15c2 100644
--- a/doc/dox_comments/header_files/ssl.h
+++ b/doc/dox_comments/header_files/ssl.h
@@ -14085,3 +14085,12 @@ int wolfSSL_RSA_sign_generic_padding(int type, const unsigned char* m,
                                unsigned int mLen, unsigned char* sigRet,
                                unsigned int* sigLen, WOLFSSL_RSA* rsa,
                                int flag, int padding);
+/*!
+
+\brief checks if DTLSv1.3 stack has some messages sent but not yet acknowledged
+ by the other peer
+
+ \return 1 if there are pending messages, 0 otherwise
+ \param ssl A WOLFSSL object pointer
+*/
+int wolfSSL_dtls13_has_pending_msg(WOLFSSL *ssl);
diff --git a/src/dtls13.c b/src/dtls13.c
index 2e7947481..a08812826 100644
--- a/src/dtls13.c
+++ b/src/dtls13.c
@@ -2420,4 +2420,9 @@ int Dtls13RtxProcessingCertificate(WOLFSSL* ssl, byte* input, word32 inputSize)
     return 0;
 }
 
+int wolfSSL_dtls13_has_pending_msg(WOLFSSL* ssl)
+{
+    return ssl->dtls13Rtx.rtxRecords != NULL;
+}
+
 #endif /* WOLFSSL_DTLS13 */
diff --git a/wolfssl/ssl.h b/wolfssl/ssl.h
index d419339fa..829fc4745 100644
--- a/wolfssl/ssl.h
+++ b/wolfssl/ssl.h
@@ -869,6 +869,7 @@ WOLFSSL_API WOLFSSL_METHOD *wolfSSLv23_client_method_ex(void* heap);
 #ifdef WOLFSSL_DTLS13
     WOLFSSL_API WOLFSSL_METHOD *wolfDTLSv1_3_client_method_ex(void* heap);
     WOLFSSL_API WOLFSSL_METHOD *wolfDTLSv1_3_server_method_ex(void* heap);
+    WOLFSSL_API int wolfSSL_dtls13_has_pending_msg(WOLFSSL *ssl);
 #endif
 
 #endif