I was extremely lucky with my son. First day/night home from hospital, he slept through the night. He was 8 days old since we stayed for a while because of some complications for me and I was a single mom then. Mostly, I think this was because I had to change to formula as I had no breast milk.
My aunt bout hit me when I fussed at him and tried waking him because the nurses SAID he would wake every few hours to eat! LOL! My son woke up after 10 1/2 hrs sleep, ate and played for 2 hrs then went back to sleep for 3 hrs. He woke, ate and played for 1 1/2 hrs and slept again for 3 hrs. Then he woke, ate and played for 4 1/2 hrs. My son went to sleep for the night and slept 12 hrs. We had this scheldule til he was 3 months old when HE decided he didn't need a morning nap. He continued on this schedule til he was 18 months old at which time I noticed if he had a full afternoon nap, I had trouble getting him to sleep at night. So I ended up letting him have a "relax" time for an hour ro so in the afternoon and this worked.
My friends all had trouble with understanding our schedules (at 1st they thought it was too much and later it was too little) but his doc said not to worry. His doctor had told me all along that most babies know how much sleep they need and some times it will change a little ( 1/2 hr here and there) each day. And depending on their development rate (lifting head, supporting head, rolling, crawling, talking and walking), this will cause their sleep habits to change accordingly.
The only time my son's doctor said I should worry is if he was lathargic (sp?) during his waking hours. As this was never a problem, I didn't worry. I have helped to raise many more children and each was different with their sleep patterns, even the siblings.
Today my son is a strapping teenager! Course his sleep habits are really driving me crazy these days! But that's another subject all together! LOL!