Josh Peck and Paige O'Brien Peck open up about breastfeeding struggles and why they 'went straight to formula' for their new baby: 'I was very hard on myself'
Welcome to So Mini Ways, Yahoo Life's parenting series on the joys and challenges of childrearing.
Josh Peck’s acting career launched on Nickelodeon when he was a teen, so it should come as no surprise that many millennials feel like they’ve grown up with the 36-year-old star. With that in mind, watching Peck, who now stars on How I Met Your Father, and his wife, Paige O’Brien Peck, navigate parenthood on social media can almost feel like watching friends become parents.
The Pecks have two boys, 4-year-old Max and 5-month old Shai, and spoke to Yahoo Life about the transition from being parents of one to parents of two and all the very relatable ways in which parenthood requires a great deal of flexibility — particularly when it comes to feeding.
“With Max I had every intention of breastfeeding, but sometimes those plans just don't go how we want them to. I was very hard on myself and pressured myself into trying, trying, trying to do something that wasn't working for me,” Paige shares, adding that when they switched him to formula, things quickly changed. “It was great,” she says. So when Shai was born in late 2022, she decided to forego breastfeeding altogether. “We just went straight to formula,” she says. “They gave him Enfamil in the hospital and he was on that from day one.”
The couple has since partnered with Enfamil and are helping to raise awareness about Enfamil Family Beginnings, a program designed to help new parents through samples, rewards programs and educational resources (including 24-hour access to a nurse, which all new parents will know is invaluable). “Working with someone who we use their products every day with our kids and we trust them — it's been an awesome partnership,” Paige shares.
Elsewhere in their new roles as parents of two, Josh and Paige are working hard at prioritizing family and making sure to respect the fact that each kid truly is their own unique person. “Each kid is so different in that they might require different parenting styles, and they might react better to a certain type of love,” Paige says.
“It’s being able to adjust from your plan to being open to deviating, to letting your kid dictate what they need,” Josh adds. “I’ll hear certain parents talk about, like, ‘my child’s going to go to this school, and they’re going to do this,’ and it sounds good. But for me the thing that’s been the most rewarding is when my son really shows me what he needs and I’m able to give him that. I’m the actor/creative type, and Max is totally obsessed with sports. I’m glad that I can meet him there instead of trying to force him into whatever I’m into.”
“One of my favorite things is when he puts Max to bed I have to tell them to be quiet,” Paige says. “They’re laughing so loud, the two of them, and telling stories and being crazy — Max’s belly laugh from the other room just makes me so happy.”
As for how the HIMYF star is managing his growing career — which includes a role in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming Oppenheimer — and being a hands-on dad, Peck admits that a balance must be found. “I feel lucky that Paige has sort of prioritized the kids during this time,” he says. He also adds that he makes a point of spending quality time with his children in the morning before work, including his daily ritual of bringing Max to school.
“It means a lot to me and hopefully to Max as well,” he says. “I think it’s really carving out those family moments.”
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