Josh Peck's 2 Kids: All About Max and Shai
Josh Peck shares two sons with his wife Paige O’Brien
Josh Peck gained fame for portraying half of the brother duo in Drake & Josh, but in real life, he is now a loving father of two sons: Max and Shai.
The Nickelodeon alum and his wife Paige O’Brien welcomed their first son, Max Milo Peck, in December 2018. The couple’s second child, Shai Miller Peck, was born in October 2022.
After welcoming his sons, Josh told Distractify that he became less selfish and solely focused on his career, and instead channeled that love into his children.
Related: Who Is Josh Peck's Wife? All About Paige O'Brien
"Until you have a child, hopefully, you meet someone great and you grow together and you become a little less selfish, but I never thought I would quite be able to have the level of love and joy [of] putting someone before me," he told the outlet in June 2023.
He continued, "I feel with these two kids of ours, the most annoying part is that every trope every saying every slogan, every colloquialism becomes true. And the way I used to shudder when I would hear my mom say, 'It is a love like you will never know.’ My Jewish mother was quite right."
From keeping Josh up at night to their reaction to his early work, here’s everything to know about Josh Peck’s kids, Max and Shai.
Max Milo Peck, 5
Josh and O’Brien’s first child, Max, was born on Dec. 29, 2018. Josh announced his birth with a simple post on Instagram of his newborn swaddled in the hospital blanket and hat, captioning it with his name.
When Max was an infant, O’Brien struggled to produce enough milk to breastfeed him, she told PEOPLE in April 2023.
"I really had every intention of breastfeeding when we had Max, and then I quickly realized that I never produced enough milk,” she said. “I kind of drove myself crazy for a few weeks, trying to really force it, and then we went to formula and had to try out a bunch of different ones until we found the right fit.”
The couple took time to find their balance in parenting, but now, they find that their styles work well together.
"Josh is really hands-on and really helpful, which I'm very thankful for, and he and Max have kind of a very similar energy to them," she explained. "For me, I'm definitely a little bit more relaxed and calm. I think it's just a good balance of our different strengths."
From an early age, Josh also took the lead on raising Max in the Jewish faith, celebrating holidays like Hanukkah and Passover together. When he was just 3 months old, Josh also dressed his infant son up as a chick for Purim.
Now that Max is 5, he’s developing new interests, like reading, O’Brien told PEOPLE.
“So now at night, when we're reading books, he's reading them to me instead of me reading them to him, which is a wild thing," she said. "He's really gotten into puzzles lately. His mind is always working.”
As for whether he’d introduced Max to his work yet, Josh told Morning Honey in November 2023 that he was starting to, but Max was still too young to fully understand his fame.
"My son has seen a few things I've done,” the Oppenheimer actor said. “He thinks it's just very well-shot home movies. I am not sure he can resonate what a legend his father is quite yet!"
Shai Miller Peck, 2
Josh and O’Brien announced that they were expecting their second child in June 2022 when O’Brien posted a photo hugging her baby bump in a pink dress. Underneath the photo, Josh jokingly commented, “Is mine or no?”
Shai was born four months later on Oct. 14, 2022. Josh announced his birth with a sweet photo on Instagram of Max sitting on a bed while his little brother slept next to him, once again captioning the post with his full name.
Shai quickly proved to be a poor sleeper, with Josh joking that he had a “vendetta against sleep” in one Instagram post. The infant’s parents chose to rotate who would get up to feed him when he woke up in the night, leading to difficult evenings for both.
"We were shifters," Josh told Distractify. "And so from one to six [in the morning], I would just go crash in the guest room just because I would have work or something, just to get a little bit of quiet."
"And after a while, our son would wake up at 6 and come join me to watch, you know, like Sesame Street or some cartoon in our guest room," he continued. "He finally said, 'I really like that this is your room, Dad.' ”
Though Josh and O’Brien were initially worried about how Max would adjust to having a sibling after being an only child for four years, the How I Met Your Father actor said the little boy couldn’t love his brother more.
“My son is a great older brother. He runs into his room as soon as he gets home from school and wants to tell me about his day and give me hugs,” he told Morning Honey.
He added that when O’Brien was planning to go to northern California and Josh was to stay home with the kids, O’Brien asked Max if he wanted to tag along, to which he replied, “If Shai is not coming, I don't want to go!”
Raising young kids has brought the fun of holidays back for Josh, who said celebrating Christmas Eve and Halloween are “some of the best nights” for family and kids.
“When you grow up, you're over it, and then you have children and get to enjoy all these new things through their eyes,” he said. “It's fun to see them enjoy it and it brings the family together.”
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