diff --git a/contrib/IBM/sarama.v1/sarama.go b/contrib/IBM/sarama.v1/sarama.go
index 86da3f0a6d..8643513ceb 100644
--- a/contrib/IBM/sarama.v1/sarama.go
+++ b/contrib/IBM/sarama.v1/sarama.go
@@ -74,7 +74,8 @@ func WrapPartitionConsumer(pc sarama.PartitionConsumer, opts ...Option) sarama.P
 			// kafka supports headers, so try to extract a span context
 			carrier := NewConsumerMessageCarrier(msg)
 			if spanctx, err := tracer.Extract(carrier); err == nil {
-				opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+				opts = append(opts, tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+				opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOf(spanctx))
 			}
 			next := tracer.StartSpan(cfg.consumerSpanName, opts...)
 			// reinject the span context so consumers can pick it up
@@ -298,7 +299,8 @@ func startProducerSpan(cfg *config, version sarama.KafkaVersion, msg *sarama.Pro
 	}
 	// if there's a span context in the headers, use that as the parent
 	if spanctx, err := tracer.Extract(carrier); err == nil {
-		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOf(spanctx))
 	}
 	span := tracer.StartSpan(cfg.producerSpanName, opts...)
 	if version.IsAtLeast(sarama.V0_11_0_0) {
diff --git a/contrib/Shopify/sarama/sarama.go b/contrib/Shopify/sarama/sarama.go
index 27dd9122d6..73e6387237 100644
--- a/contrib/Shopify/sarama/sarama.go
+++ b/contrib/Shopify/sarama/sarama.go
@@ -77,7 +77,8 @@ func WrapPartitionConsumer(pc sarama.PartitionConsumer, opts ...Option) sarama.P
 			// kafka supports headers, so try to extract a span context
 			carrier := NewConsumerMessageCarrier(msg)
 			if spanctx, err := tracer.Extract(carrier); err == nil {
-				opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+				opts = append(opts, tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+				opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOf(spanctx))
 			}
 			next := tracer.StartSpan(cfg.consumerSpanName, opts...)
 			// reinject the span context so consumers can pick it up
@@ -301,7 +302,8 @@ func startProducerSpan(cfg *config, version sarama.KafkaVersion, msg *sarama.Pro
 	}
 	// if there's a span context in the headers, use that as the parent
 	if spanctx, err := tracer.Extract(carrier); err == nil {
-		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOf(spanctx))
 	}
 	span := tracer.StartSpan(cfg.producerSpanName, opts...)
 	if version.IsAtLeast(sarama.V0_11_0_0) {
diff --git a/contrib/cloud.google.com/go/pubsub.v1/internal/tracing/tracing.go b/contrib/cloud.google.com/go/pubsub.v1/internal/tracing/tracing.go
index 5c95335041..4dacacdc0a 100644
--- a/contrib/cloud.google.com/go/pubsub.v1/internal/tracing/tracing.go
+++ b/contrib/cloud.google.com/go/pubsub.v1/internal/tracing/tracing.go
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ func TraceReceiveFunc(s Subscription, opts ...Option) func(ctx context.Context,
 			tracer.Tag(ext.Component, componentName),
 			tracer.Tag(ext.SpanKind, ext.SpanKindConsumer),
 			tracer.Tag(ext.MessagingSystem, ext.MessagingSystemGCPPubsub),
-			tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(parentSpanCtx),
+			tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(parentSpanCtx),
+			tracer.ChildOf(parentSpanCtx),
 		}
 		if cfg.serviceName != "" {
 			opts = append(opts, tracer.ServiceName(cfg.serviceName))
diff --git a/contrib/confluentinc/confluent-kafka-go/internal/tracing/consumer.go b/contrib/confluentinc/confluent-kafka-go/internal/tracing/consumer.go
index 9e931c09cc..2a18ebe05e 100644
--- a/contrib/confluentinc/confluent-kafka-go/internal/tracing/consumer.go
+++ b/contrib/confluentinc/confluent-kafka-go/internal/tracing/consumer.go
@@ -77,7 +77,8 @@ func (tr *KafkaTracer) StartConsumeSpan(msg Message) ddtrace.Span {
 	// kafka supports headers, so try to extract a span context
 	carrier := MessageCarrier{msg: msg}
 	if spanctx, err := tracer.Extract(carrier); err == nil {
-		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOf(spanctx))
 	}
 	span, _ := tracer.StartSpanFromContext(tr.ctx, tr.consumerSpanName, opts...)
 	// reinject the span context so consumers can pick it up
diff --git a/contrib/confluentinc/confluent-kafka-go/internal/tracing/producer.go b/contrib/confluentinc/confluent-kafka-go/internal/tracing/producer.go
index 9b93807a43..841be80ac2 100644
--- a/contrib/confluentinc/confluent-kafka-go/internal/tracing/producer.go
+++ b/contrib/confluentinc/confluent-kafka-go/internal/tracing/producer.go
@@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ func (tr *KafkaTracer) StartProduceSpan(msg Message) ddtrace.Span {
 	// if there's a span context in the headers, use that as the parent
 	carrier := NewMessageCarrier(msg)
 	if spanctx, err := tracer.Extract(carrier); err == nil {
-		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOf(spanctx))
 	}
 	span, _ := tracer.StartSpanFromContext(tr.ctx, tr.producerSpanName, opts...)
 	// inject the span context so consumers can pick it up
diff --git a/contrib/gofiber/fiber.v2/fiber.go b/contrib/gofiber/fiber.v2/fiber.go
index 80bd857154..0c5df24a06 100644
--- a/contrib/gofiber/fiber.v2/fiber.go
+++ b/contrib/gofiber/fiber.v2/fiber.go
@@ -62,7 +62,8 @@ func Middleware(opts ...Option) func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
 			}
 		}
 		if spanctx, err := tracer.Extract(tracer.HTTPHeadersCarrier(h)); err == nil {
-			opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+			opts = append(opts, tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+			opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOf(spanctx))
 		}
 		opts = append(opts, cfg.spanOpts...)
 		opts = append(opts,
diff --git a/contrib/google.golang.org/grpc/grpc.go b/contrib/google.golang.org/grpc/grpc.go
index ffa22e4c38..976ccaa592 100644
--- a/contrib/google.golang.org/grpc/grpc.go
+++ b/contrib/google.golang.org/grpc/grpc.go
@@ -71,7 +71,8 @@ func startSpanFromContext(
 	)
 	md, _ := metadata.FromIncomingContext(ctx) // nil is ok
 	if sctx, err := tracer.Extract(grpcutil.MDCarrier(md)); err == nil {
-		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(sctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(sctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOf(sctx))
 	}
 	return tracer.StartSpanFromContext(ctx, operation, opts...)
 }
diff --git a/contrib/internal/httptrace/httptrace.go b/contrib/internal/httptrace/httptrace.go
index 181dde0e84..a805e1da05 100644
--- a/contrib/internal/httptrace/httptrace.go
+++ b/contrib/internal/httptrace/httptrace.go
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ func StartRequestSpan(r *http.Request, opts ...ddtrace.StartSpanOption) (tracer.
 				cfg.Tags["http.host"] = r.Host
 			}
 			if spanctx, err := tracer.Extract(tracer.HTTPHeadersCarrier(r.Header)); err == nil {
-				tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx)(cfg) //TODO: ensure that this line is performing the expected functionality
+				tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx)(cfg)
+				tracer.ChildOf(spanctx)(cfg)
 			}
 			for k, v := range ipTags {
 				cfg.Tags[k] = v
diff --git a/contrib/segmentio/kafka.go.v0/internal/tracing/tracing.go b/contrib/segmentio/kafka.go.v0/internal/tracing/tracing.go
index 881e269fd6..0a76c164ee 100644
--- a/contrib/segmentio/kafka.go.v0/internal/tracing/tracing.go
+++ b/contrib/segmentio/kafka.go.v0/internal/tracing/tracing.go
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ func (tr *Tracer) StartConsumeSpan(ctx context.Context, msg Message) ddtrace.Spa
 	// kafka supports headers, so try to extract a span context
 	carrier := NewMessageCarrier(msg)
 	if spanctx, err := tracer.Extract(carrier); err == nil {
-		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOf(spanctx))
 	}
 	span, _ := tracer.StartSpanFromContext(ctx, tr.consumerSpanName, opts...)
 	// reinject the span context so consumers can pick it up
diff --git a/contrib/twitchtv/twirp/twirp.go b/contrib/twitchtv/twirp/twirp.go
index f100f62ca7..d20e0da6bf 100644
--- a/contrib/twitchtv/twirp/twirp.go
+++ b/contrib/twitchtv/twirp/twirp.go
@@ -90,7 +90,8 @@ func (wc *wrappedClient) Do(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
 		opts = append(opts, tracer.Tag(ext.EventSampleRate, wc.cfg.analyticsRate))
 	}
 	if spanctx, err := tracer.Extract(tracer.HTTPHeadersCarrier(req.Header)); err == nil {
-		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+		opts = append(opts, tracer.ChildOf(spanctx))
 	}
 
 	span, ctx := tracer.StartSpanFromContext(req.Context(), wc.cfg.spanName, opts...)
@@ -139,7 +140,8 @@ func WrapServer(h http.Handler, opts ...Option) http.Handler {
 			spanOpts = append(spanOpts, tracer.Tag(ext.EventSampleRate, cfg.analyticsRate))
 		}
 		if spanctx, err := tracer.Extract(tracer.HTTPHeadersCarrier(r.Header)); err == nil {
-			spanOpts = append(spanOpts, tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+			spanOpts = append(spanOpts, tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(spanctx))
+			spanOpts = append(spanOpts, tracer.ChildOf(spanctx))
 		}
 		span, ctx := tracer.StartSpanFromContext(r.Context(), "twirp.handler", spanOpts...)
 		defer span.Finish()
diff --git a/contrib/valyala/fasthttp.v1/fasthttp.go b/contrib/valyala/fasthttp.v1/fasthttp.go
index f3f1c891f4..3dd3889264 100644
--- a/contrib/valyala/fasthttp.v1/fasthttp.go
+++ b/contrib/valyala/fasthttp.v1/fasthttp.go
@@ -46,7 +46,8 @@ func WrapHandler(h fasthttp.RequestHandler, opts ...Option) fasthttp.RequestHand
 			ReqHeader: &fctx.Request.Header,
 		}
 		if sctx, err := tracer.Extract(fcc); err == nil {
-			spanOpts = append(spanOpts, tracer.ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(sctx))
+			spanOpts = append(spanOpts, tracer.WithExtractedSpanLinks(sctx))
+			spanOpts = append(spanOpts, tracer.ChildOf(sctx))
 		}
 		span := fasthttptrace.StartSpanFromContext(fctx, "http.request", spanOpts...)
 		defer span.Finish()
diff --git a/ddtrace/tracer/context_test.go b/ddtrace/tracer/context_test.go
index d430db2571..6972570a8c 100644
--- a/ddtrace/tracer/context_test.go
+++ b/ddtrace/tracer/context_test.go
@@ -85,26 +85,20 @@ func TestStartSpanFromContextWithSpanLinks(t *testing.T) {
 	defer stop()
 	spanLink := ddtrace.SpanLink{TraceID: 789, TraceIDHigh: 0, SpanID: 789, Attributes: map[string]string{"reason": "terminated_context", "context_headers": "datadog"}, Flags: 0}
 	spanLinkContext := &spanContext{spanID: 789, traceID: traceIDFrom64Bits(789), spanLinks: []ddtrace.SpanLink{spanLink}}
-	child, ctx := StartSpanFromContext(
+	child, _ := StartSpanFromContext(
 		context.Background(),
 		"http.request",
-		ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(spanLinkContext),
+		WithExtractedSpanLinks(spanLinkContext),
+		ChildOf(spanLinkContext),
 	)
 	assert := assert.New(t)
 
-	got, ok := child.(*span)
-	assert.True(ok)
-	gotctx, ok := SpanFromContext(ctx)
+	//checking that a span links are added to a child span that is created where span links are passed as an StartSpanOption
+	childSpan, ok := child.(*span)
 	assert.True(ok)
-	assert.Equal(gotctx, got)
-	_, ok = gotctx.(*traceinternal.NoopSpan)
-	assert.False(ok)
 
-	assert.Equal(uint64(789), got.TraceID)
-	assert.Equal(uint64(789), got.ParentID)
-	assert.Equal("http.request", got.Name)
-	assert.Equal(1, len(got.SpanLinks))
-	assert.Equal(spanLink, got.SpanLinks[0])
+	assert.Equal(1, len(childSpan.SpanLinks))
+	assert.Equal(spanLink, childSpan.SpanLinks[0])
 }
 
 func TestStartSpanFromContextRace(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/ddtrace/tracer/option.go b/ddtrace/tracer/option.go
index f2274024bd..91a2678219 100644
--- a/ddtrace/tracer/option.go
+++ b/ddtrace/tracer/option.go
@@ -1209,13 +1209,12 @@ func ChildOf(ctx ddtrace.SpanContext) StartSpanOption {
 	}
 }
 
-func ChildOfWithExtractedSpanLinks(ctx ddtrace.SpanContext) StartSpanOption {
+func WithExtractedSpanLinks(ctx ddtrace.SpanContext) StartSpanOption {
 	return func(cfg *ddtrace.StartSpanConfig) {
-		if spanCtx, ok := ctx.(*spanContext); ok && spanCtx != nil {
-			cfg.SpanLinks = spanCtx.spanLinks
-			spanCtx.spanLinks = nil
+		if spanCtx, ok := ctx.(*spanContext); ok && spanCtx != nil && spanCtx.spanLinks != nil {
+			WithSpanLinks(spanCtx.spanLinks)(cfg)
+			spanCtx.spanLinks = nil //Extracted span links should not belong in the parent context of a span when it is started
 		}
-		cfg.Parent = ctx
 	}
 }