Quebec breastfeeding resource a 'life-saver' for many new mothers

"I'm so sorry about this," Lauren Pochereva says bashfully as she sits in front of her computer with baby Aspen in her arms. "She doesn't want to nap."

She's doing what many new mothers do -- apologizing profusely because her five-month-old daughter interrupted a conversation.

It's a mental hurdle that's difficult to overcome, the idea that your infant is bothering other people -- and just one of many barriers that new moms face after giving birth.

Another? Breastfeeding.

"Some days when it's working, you feel like a champion, and you're like, 'Yeah, I got this, no problem.' And when it's not going well...," she pauses for a few minutes to comfort a fussy Aspen. "...You feel a lot of guilt. You feel incompetent...'What's wrong with me? Why can I feed my baby?'"

• READ MORE: Quebec father helps dads navigate their families' breastfeeding journey

Though early motherhood can be a highly isolating time, there are free resources available to lend a helping hand.

One of those services is Fédération Nourri-Source.

Since its founding almost 40 years ago, Nourri-Source has trained nearly 700 breastfeeding support volunteers across nine regions of Quebec -- as well as a few francophone areas of the Yukon and Winnipeg.

The purpose is to assist mothers on their breastfeeding journeys.

"Once we contact our families, we get the opportunity to just listen actively to what it is that they're dealing with," explains Melissa Squarey, a member of the Fédération Nourri-Source board of directors and volunteer in the Laval area. "It's in those first few days of learning how to breastfeed, learning how the baby is learning, learning how the mom works into that, learning how the father plays into that."

Pochereva says she heard about Fédération Nourri-Source through her doula after she expressed concerns about breastfeeding following a previous breast-reduction surgery.

"There are 100 things that can go wrong, or that can be a challenge," she tells CTV News. "Despite knowing about the resources, it was still a huge challenge and I'm super grateful for all of the support, both the emotional support and the resource and information support that was offered through the program."

Squarey explains their job as volunteers is to help mothers with basic education: latching, positioning and supply, for example.

But they also do so much more than that.

"If it's just really hard and you just need someone to talk to, that's part of the role of the care that we as peers provide," Squarey notes. "You're in that brand new parent stage, whether it's a brand new parent of multiple children, whether it's a brand new parent of your firstborn, it's a totally new case every time."

The biggest misconception, according to Squarey, a previous client of Nourri-Source, is that breastfeeding is "natural" and therefore "easy."

• READ MORE: Quebec father helps dads navigate their families' breastfeeding journey

"I have two babies, one of which I had pretty much all of the things that could go wrong went wrong, and I persevered for four and a half months to the point where it impacted my mental health," she told CTV News. "After four and a half months of triple feeding, which is pumping every two to three hours...trying to breastfeed and then bottle feeding, I was mentally exhausted."

Squarey stresses breastfeeding, among other factors, can be a major trigger for many women who later get diagnosed with postpartum depression.

"It's not easy to be dealing with all of those emotions, all of the hormones, being the only one to feed them, having little to no sleep," she said. "[Through the service], they realize that, 'Oh, OK, this is actually really normal, I've experienced this. There are other people that are going through this.'"

Sometimes, all a new mother really needs is someone to talk to.

"Breastfeeding is really hard. It's really hard. It's hard," repeats Squarey.

It's a sentiment that Pochereva echoes.

"I would say breastfeeding is really hard," she said. "It's something that we don't really talk about...It's totally normal that it's hard. And it is really helpful to seek out that support."

To reach out to a breastfeeding support peer, or if you know someone who could benefit from the service, click here.