pcntl_fork and the MySQL connection is gone

Question

I have a foreach loop that forks within it. After the process forks, it accesses the database. I get an error:

SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 2006 MySQL server has gone away

The thing is, I'm connecting to the database after I've forked.

My question: Why would this be happening?

If this happens, am I actually accessing the database before forking? Will the child inherit DB connections?

(note: I can post code, but it's rather large as it's all in classes, which could be what is causing my confusion of when I'm accessing the DB. Another thing you should know is I'm using ZF.)

Answer 1

(comment --> answer per poster's request)

Reading more into it I see forked children do inherit their parent's db connection, and it is a known problem: http://php.net/manual/en/function.pcntl-fork.php#70721