Took a break from playing for a few weeks and then fired up a new playthrough, no particular theme.
Looking at it through fresher eyes it's surprising how hard the first half of act 1 discourages players from long-resting, considering that doing so is how you get most of your companion interactions, things are missable if you don't do it, and fighting early battles is so much easier when you have your spell slots etc..
Ways the game discourages long resting:
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Companions don't alert when they have camp events queued*. There's a mod for it, so it does seem to be doable.
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If you sleep alone on the beach when you get off the nautiloid, you get ominous narration about your tadpole squirming
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If you long rest once you get your first companion, the companion berates you for resting too soon
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The tadpoles are given a specific 'you will imminently turn into an illithid' timeline by Gale
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The grove fears an imminent goblin attack, and Aradin has already lead goblins to the grove which can presumably be tracked by other goblins
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The druid ritual is also urgent; they're actively in the middle of casting it and the tieflings are packing up
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Finding an immediate cure for your tadpole is your main goal, with key NPCs warning you you'll soon be transforming
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The Lae'Zel camp event where you stumble around and start to collapse, and she threatens to kill you because you appear to be turning into an illithid
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Gale's magic item eating would appear, logically speaking, to be related to long resting. And it doesn't seem to have a stopping point-- even though it does. Until you meet Elminster, he never actually says he's sated, he just stops requesting items. But how is a new player supposed to know that?
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There are actual 'timed' events like the harpies and waukeen's rest, enforcing that timed events are a thing
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Camp supplies further suggest the need to be judicious with long resting. There are more of them than you'll ever need, but it's not obvious right at the beginning.
*Companions' 'I'm tired' overworld cues don't correspond to camp events, they're linked to spell slots and short rests. If a companion gives you an 'I'm tired' and then has a camp event, it's coincidence.
Don't get me wrong, I know by now what triggers what. Just makes me feel for new players.
First time I played I didn't long rest for almost all of the upperworld in act 1 because I was paranoid about the tadpoles. Even after the Dream Guardian explained that he was dealing with the tadpole situation I was still concerned about running out of gear for Gale or losing the tieflings to the druids or the gobbos.
As far as I can tell/remember, there's nothing at all to suggest it's fine to sleep frequently.