Is the sleep of normal babies the same as 'normal infant sleep'?

Marrying expectations about infant sleep with the postnatal reality is a difficult task for many new parents. Prenatal fantasies of a baby sleeping soundly in their carefully prepared cot are rarely realised, while unrealistic expectations are unintentionally reinforced by clinicians and well-wishers; even total strangers enquire whether babies they encounter are 'good', (meaning sleeping 'through the night'). Such interactions prompt many new parents to wonder whether their baby’s sleep patterns are ‘normal’, and what they could be doing differently to help their baby fall asleep more quickly, sleep for longer, or more deeply, or through the night (Ball, 2020; Barry, 2020).