diff --git a/instrumentation/aws_lambda/lib/opentelemetry/instrumentation/aws_lambda/wrap.rb b/instrumentation/aws_lambda/lib/opentelemetry/instrumentation/aws_lambda/wrap.rb
index 655fb7b2b8..8b02685190 100644
--- a/instrumentation/aws_lambda/lib/opentelemetry/instrumentation/aws_lambda/wrap.rb
+++ b/instrumentation/aws_lambda/lib/opentelemetry/instrumentation/aws_lambda/wrap.rb
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ def wrap_lambda(event:, context:, handler:, flush_timeout: DEFAULT_FLUSH_TIMEOUT
               begin
                 response = yield
 
-                unless span.attributes.key?(OpenTelemetry::SemanticConventions::Trace::HTTP_STATUS_CODE)
+                if span.recording? && !span.attributes.key?(OpenTelemetry::SemanticConventions::Trace::HTTP_STATUS_CODE)
                   status_code = response['statusCode'] || response[:statusCode] if response.is_a?(Hash)
                   span.set_attribute(OpenTelemetry::SemanticConventions::Trace::HTTP_STATUS_CODE, status_code) if status_code
                 end