Boy's Presence Renews Mother's Confidence

Boy's Presence Renews Mother's Confidence

By ROBERT D. MCFADDEN

LEAD: Beaming and confident after her first night with her baby, Nicole Bridget Smigiel said yesterday that she hoped to combine college and motherhood in a new life dedicated to the child she surrendered at birth 17 months ago to Joel B. Steinberg.

Beaming and confident after her first night with her baby, Nicole Bridget Smigiel said yesterday that she hoped to combine college and motherhood in a new life dedicated to the child she surrendered at birth 17 months ago to Joel B. Steinberg.

''I've become a much more mature, responsible person,'' Miss Smigiel, who is 18 years old, told a news conference at State Supreme Court in Mineola, L.I., where her lawyer filed papers to make permanent the temporary custody of the child she won Thursday in Family Court in Manhattan.

The baby she calls Travis Christian was raised as Mitchell Steinberg by Mr. Steinberg and Hedda Nussbaum in Greenwich Village. The infant was found soiled but unharmed Nov. 2 when the police discovered another child, Lisa, battered and comatose, and arrested the couple. Lisa died three days later and the couple have been charged with her murder.

Flanked yesterday by her parents, Dennis and Graceann, Miss Smigiel recalled how, as a college student in Baltimore two weeks ago, she was stunned to learn through the authorities and relatives that the baby in the news accounts was hers. Child's Best Interest

Returning to her home in Massapequa, she said she decided to seek custody. ''I had to weigh what was in the best interests of the child,'' she said. ''I came second.'' In the last 17 months, she said, she thought about the baby ''every single day.''

On his first night at her home, she said, ''He slept like a baby and I slept like a baby.''

''He's the most wonderful little boy in the whole world,'' she said. ''He makes everyone so happy.'' At the news conference, she said, Travis was left with a great-grandmother.

If granted permanent custody, Miss Smigiel said she would resume college somewhere near her home and, with her parents' help, would raise the baby. She declined to answer questions about the baby's father, a college student who has agreed to help.

Miss Smigiel also said she would try to explain to her child someday what happened in his infancy, ''that I was unable to take care of him at first and others did,'' and that ''they were sick and now he is with me and will be with me forever.''