Final answer:
The newborn's symptoms, including tachypnea and irritability, in conjunction with maternal opiate use during pregnancy, likely indicate Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), a condition involving withdrawal symptoms in the newborn.
Step-by-step explanation:
The condition you are describing in a newborn with tachypnea, diarrhea, sweating, sneezing, irritability, and a history of a mother who did opiates during pregnancy is most likely Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). NAS is a group of problems that occur in a newborn who was exposed to addictive opiate drugs while in the mother's womb. Symptoms can include a variety of physical and neurobehavioral effects such as respiratory problems, feeding difficulties, and central nervous system disturbances. In the discussion of fetal distress, one contributing factor could be maternal drug abuse during pregnancy which includes usage of opiates. This fetal distress may manifest as meconium passage in utero, signaling hypoxia, while the mentioned newborn symptoms could follow post-birth as a part of NAS.