Our Team of Sleep Consultants

As a health professional and the founder of Millpond Children’s Sleep Clinic I have been advising on baby, toddler, school-aged and young people’s sleep issues for over 30 years.

The exhaustion of sleepless nights is familiar to all parents at some point in their child’s life. I found myself subjected to this ordeal as a first-time mum. When my son was born he had severe reflux and food allergies and as a consequence screamed almost 24 hours a day. Eventually he was referred to a wonderful team at the Brompton Hospital and with the right treatment we began to emerge from the fog.

As a health professional I was concerned about the lack of support other families might be experiencing and I decided to turn my emotional experience to good effect. Building on my medical training in nursing, midwifery and health visiting, I set up one of London’s first NHS’s children’s sleep clinics.

As a health professional, I was able to offer evidence based down-to-earth advice to parents while building up a store of reliable and practical sleep solutions. Over the next 5 years I could see what a positive impact it was having on families and this acted as a catalyst to my decision to specialise in children’s sleep.

In 2000 I formed Millpond children’s sleep clinic which has now grown into an international service, used globally by hundreds of families with children aged 6 months to teens. Our approach is modelled around the child and family’s specific needs. It’s about being sensitive and tailored rather than prescriptive; which means we can help support families to see good results in matter of weeks. Having a medical background means I can take a fully holistic approach and advise parents on other factors that may be influencing their child’s sleep.

Our recipe for sleep success is now in popular demand from many other quarters. I write regularly for on-line parenting sites and am frequently asked to give expert comment on both TV, Radio, social media and record podcasts. I also had the huge pleasure to present alongside Professor Robert Winston in The Essential Parent Company’s comprehensive DVD guide to baby’s sleeping.

I am the sleep expert and adviser for a number of household brands including The BBC, In The Night Garden, Gro Company, Essential Parent, Rest Easy Sleep Better and Chicco.

I am the author of three additions of Teach Your Child to Sleep (Hamlyn, 2005, 2016,2020) which has sold tens of thousands of copies worldwide. Also “The Bedtime Book”, a children’s book on sleep for the television programme “In The Night Garden”.

Since 2007 I have been commissioned by the NHS and HSE Ireland to train their teams to support families with sleep issues. To date I’ve trained 10’s of thousands of health professionals, and I am also the mum of two.

“As a mother, I know just how hard sleep deprivation can be. For me, solving a child’s sleep problem is like putting together a jigsaw. By taking parents through all the issues, however apparently small, I find the missing piece. Together we put it in place, and completing the picture is often a transforming experience for the family and the best job in the world for me!” – Mandy Gurney.

Clair is a mum of three, a qualified Nursery Nurse and met Mandy when they worked together in a health visiting team in the NHS. They went on to establish an NHS children’s sleep clinic together at St Charles hospital in London, that they ran for 5 years.

With over 30 years experience, Clair has been working with Millpond since its inception. She is highly experienced in working with children in a variety of settings, including neo-natal intensive care units, paediatric wards and within the home and nursery environment.

Clair’s experience in supporting families with sleep issues and her skills in child development, behavioural issues and family dynamics means she has amazing feedback from the families she works with.

‘Sleep has a really profound effect on daytime behaviour and it’s good to be able to give parents the tools to change both and to hear how that has empowered them to enhance the daily life of the whole family’
– Clair Lyons

‘We can’t thank Clair enough for her amazing support and advice with our daughter’s sleep. We would highly recommend her to anyone who needs support with their child’s sleep!’– Victoria with 18 month old Poppy.

Carolyn is a mother of two who knows how lack of sleep can impact a family profoundly. With over 18 years experience working at Millpond Carolyn knows how important it is for a parent’s first contact with the clinic to be positive and for them to meet with a sympathetic ear.

“I speak to exhausted and emotional parents every day. I find sharing their family’s story with me as their first step to improving their child’s sleep is a huge and immediate relief. From all the positive outcomes we see, I am able to reassure them they are not alone and that we can help”. – Carolyn Reynolds.