diff --git a/src/bridge.c b/src/bridge.c
index 0a8e683e..aea28feb 100644
--- a/src/bridge.c
+++ b/src/bridge.c
@@ -889,7 +889,7 @@ static void bridge__update_backoff(struct mosquitto__bridge *bridge)
 
 	bridge->connected_at = 0;
 
-	log__printf(NULL, MOSQ_LOG_INFO, "Bridge %s next backoff will be %d", bridge->name, bridge->restart_timeout);
+	log__printf(NULL, MOSQ_LOG_INFO, "Bridge %s next backoff will be %d ms", bridge->name, bridge->restart_timeout);
 }
 
 static void bridge_check_pending(struct mosquitto *context)
diff --git a/src/conf.c b/src/conf.c
index d062ae49..2fbbbec0 100644
--- a/src/conf.c
+++ b/src/conf.c
@@ -1509,8 +1509,8 @@ static int config__read_file_core(struct mosquitto__config *config, bool reload,
 						cur_bridge->start_type = bst_automatic;
 						cur_bridge->idle_timeout = 60;
 						cur_bridge->restart_timeout = 0;
-						cur_bridge->backoff_base = 5;
-						cur_bridge->backoff_cap = 30;
+						cur_bridge->backoff_base = 5 * 1000;
+						cur_bridge->backoff_cap = 30 * 1000;
 						cur_bridge->stable_connection_period = 0;
 						cur_bridge->threshold = 10;
 						cur_bridge->try_private = true;