diff --git a/src/datasets/iterable_dataset.py b/src/datasets/iterable_dataset.py
index e438b901694..7db4fff9483 100644
--- a/src/datasets/iterable_dataset.py
+++ b/src/datasets/iterable_dataset.py
@@ -3581,15 +3581,12 @@ def batch(self, batch_size: int, drop_last_batch: bool = False) -> "IterableData
         ```
         """
 
-        def batch_fn(unbatched):
-            return {k: [v] for k, v in unbatched.items()}
-
         if self.features:
             features = Features({col: List(feature) for col, feature in self.features.items()})
         else:
             features = None
         return self.map(
-            batch_fn, batched=True, batch_size=batch_size, drop_last_batch=drop_last_batch, features=features
+            _batch_fn, batched=True, batch_size=batch_size, drop_last_batch=drop_last_batch, features=features
         )
 
     def to_dict(self, batch_size: Optional[int] = None, batched: bool = False) -> Union[dict, Iterator[dict]]:
@@ -4659,3 +4656,7 @@ async def _apply_async(pool, func, x):
             return future.get()
         else:
             await asyncio.sleep(0)
+
+
+def _batch_fn(unbatched):
+    return {k: [v] for k, v in unbatched.items()}