diff --git a/packages/metro/src/Config.js b/packages/metro/src/Config.js
index 21cd3405..0107c802 100644
--- a/packages/metro/src/Config.js
+++ b/packages/metro/src/Config.js
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ const DEFAULT = ({
   dynamicDepsInPackages: 'throwAtRuntime',
   getAssetExts: () => [],
   getBlacklistRE: () => blacklist(),
-  getEnableBabelRCLookup: () => false,
+  getEnableBabelRCLookup: () => true,
   getPlatforms: () => [],
   getPolyfillModuleNames: () => [],
   // We assume the default project path is two levels up from
diff --git a/packages/metro/src/index.js b/packages/metro/src/index.js
index 604d079d..17c935ec 100644
--- a/packages/metro/src/index.js
+++ b/packages/metro/src/index.js
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ async function runMetro({
     blacklistRE: normalizedConfig.getBlacklistRE(),
     createModuleIdFactory: normalizedConfig.createModuleIdFactory,
     dynamicDepsInPackages: normalizedConfig.dynamicDepsInPackages,
+    enableBabelRCLookup: normalizedConfig.getEnableBabelRCLookup(),
     extraNodeModules: normalizedConfig.extraNodeModules,
     getPolyfills: normalizedConfig.getPolyfills,
     getModulesRunBeforeMainModule:
diff --git a/packages/metro/src/shared/types.flow.js b/packages/metro/src/shared/types.flow.js
index 0d2cb150..95465616 100644
--- a/packages/metro/src/shared/types.flow.js
+++ b/packages/metro/src/shared/types.flow.js
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ export type Options = {|
   cacheVersion?: string,
   createModuleIdFactory?: () => (path: string) => number,
   +dynamicDepsInPackages: DynamicRequiresBehavior,
-  enableBabelRCLookup?: boolean,
+  enableBabelRCLookup: boolean,
   extraNodeModules?: {},
   getPolyfills: ({platform: ?string}) => $ReadOnlyArray<string>,
   getTransformOptions?: GetTransformOptions,