Our Team of Sleep Consultants

As the founder of Millpond Children’s Sleep Clinic and a nurse, midwife, and health visitor, I’ve spent over 30 years helping families resolve sleep issues for babies, toddlers, school-aged children, and teenagers.

Like many parents, I’ve experienced the overwhelming exhaustion that comes with sleepless nights. When my son was a baby, he suffered from severe reflux and food allergies, which meant he barely slept, and our household was in a constant state of stress and fatigue. This took a toll not only on my physical well-being but also on my mental health. That experience gave me a deep understanding of how profoundly sleep deprivation can affect every aspect of a family’s life, and it’s what drives my passion for helping families find the rest they so desperately need.

Building on my qualifications in nursing, midwifery, and health visiting, I set up one of London’s first NHS children’s sleep clinics. My approach was rooted in providing down-to-earth, evidence-based guidance, which soon proved to have a transformative impact on the families I worked with. Inspired by these positive results, I decided to specialise in children’s sleep full-time.

In 2000, I established Millpond Children’s Sleep Clinic. Since then, it has grown into an internationally recognised service, helping families across the world. Our approach is centred on the unique needs of each child and family, offering sensitive, personalised guidance rather than a one-size-fits-all solution. Many families see significant improvements in just a few weeks. Thanks to my medical background, I take a holistic view, considering all aspects of a child’s health and development that may be affecting their sleep.

In addition to working directly with families, we were the first organisation to provide structured sleep training to NHS staff. Since 2007, Millpond has been commissioned by the NHS and HSE Ireland to train healthcare professionals on how to support families dealing with sleep issues. To date, we have delivered more sleep training to NHS staff than any other organisation, having trained tens of thousands of health professionals across the UK and Ireland. This pioneering work continues to make a lasting impact, equipping healthcare teams with the skills and confidence to guide families through sleep challenges.

Beyond training, I frequently write for parenting websites and contribute expert advice on television, radio, podcasts, and social media. I had the pleasure of presenting alongside Professor Robert Winston in The Essential Parent DVD Guide to baby sleep.

I’ve worked as a sleep consultant for well-known brands, including the BBC, In the Night Garden, Gro Company, Essential Parent, Rest Easy Sleep Better, and Chicco. I’m also the author of three editions of Teach Your Child to Sleep (Hamlyn, 2005, 2016, 2020), a trusted resource that has sold tens of thousands of copies worldwide, as well as The Bedtime Book, a children’s sleep guide for the In the Night Garden television series.

I’m also a mum of two, and my journey, alongside my professional experience, enables me to offer compassionate, practical support to families, helping them improve sleep and regain balance in their lives.

“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.

Cathy Madley-Dowd brings over 30 years of experience working in the NHS as a qualified midwife, health visitor, and sleep consultant with Millpond Children’s Sleep Clinic. Throughout her career, Cathy has been passionate about supporting parents in understanding how their babies communicate, even from the earliest days of life.

Driven by her dedication to promoting positive parent-infant relationships, Cathy completed a postgraduate diploma in Young Children’s Mental Health and further expanded her expertise by earning a Master’s degree in Infant Mental Health. This advanced training deepened her understanding of how early interactions shape a child’s emotional well-being and mental health as they grow.

Cathy’s professional journey includes co-founding an infant mental health service within the NHS, where she played a key role in developing training for multidisciplinary teams working with babies and young children. Her work ensured that the voice of the child was heard and understood, helping professionals provide more sensitive and responsive care.

In addition to training professionals, Cathy also worked therapeutically with parents and their babies who were struggling to connect. Through her intervention, parents learned to respond more sensitively and appropriately to their babies, fostering stronger, more joyful bonds and creating a foundation for healthy emotional development.

Cathy’s expertise in infant mental health, combined with her extensive experience in sleep consulting, allows her to offer families holistic, compassionate support tailored to their specific needs. Her calm and empathetic approach helps parents feel confident in navigating their children’s sleep and emotional well-being.

Outside of her professional life, Cathy is dedicated to her own family and enjoys spending time with her loved ones. She is a very proud mum of two.