You surely are aware that not all Catholics in the U.S. show a strong priority for having their newborn baptized as soon as possible. Looking back on my grandparent's generation and my parent's generation, children were usually baptized at about three weeks of age.
I don't know if this belief is widespread today.
Regarding baptisms - one problem is that many parishes are putting families through so much hooplah (classes to attend etc.) that many just give up and don't have their children baptized.