Drug-addled birth may spur growing pains for li'l Danni

Anna Nicole Smith's infant daughter could be burdened with behavioral problems if she was born addicted to the drugs her mom is believed to have taken while pregnant, experts said yesterday.
Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead, who claims to be the father of baby Dannielynn, testified that the former model was hospitalized early in her pregnancy in a failed attempt to wean herself off meds.

Documents dated last August and obtained by celebrity news site TMZ.com show that Smith, then eight months pregnant, hadprescriptions for the powerful painkillers methadone and Demerol.The anti-anxiety drug Xanax and painkiller Vicodin are said tobe among the drugs discovered in the Hollywood, Fla., hotel room where Smith was found dead Feb 8.

George Mussalli, chairman of the obstetrics and gynecology department at St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan, said a baby whose mother took drugs in the late stages of pregnancy is especially likely to have been born addicted.

Jitters, inability to control temperature, an aversion to food and poor response to their environments are some of the problems that plague addicted babies, said Iffath Hoskins, head of OB/GYN at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn.

"We know that when babies are born of addicted mothers, they do have behavioral problems," Hoskins said.

If Dannielynn, who is now nearly 6 months old, does experience any of these problems, there's a good chance she'll turn out fine. Hoskins said drug-addicted babies usually catch up with their peers between the ages of 1 and 3 years.