Sleeping Problems with 1 Year Old

Just for informational purposes... If he calms "the second you go in there" then it is NOT night terrors.
Be very careful about how you handle this. If he has always been a good sleeper, don't put a fly in the ointment by letting him get in your bed with you.. You'll foment other problems. I see that the Benadryl worked. Please don't use that more than a couple of times. If you have to do so, then there is something else that needs to be addressed.

You did not say what his normal sleep habits are. Does he fall asleep at night by himself (i.e., do you put him in his crib still slightly awake?). If not, then that is more likely the root of the problem. He is waking (for whatever reason, be it teething, or the sensation of wetting his diaper, or whatever) and is unable to soothe himself back to sleep. Then he is scared or upset and screams for you. You come running. Solve everything. Then when he is asleep, he wakes again (for whatever reason) and you aren't there anymore! It's dark! He's not in your arms- he's in a crib alone! So he screams..... you come running... etc etc etc. Notice a pattern? It is subtle when we experience it, because we don't want our baby to be upset, so we are doing what we naturally do... but, if you think about it, it is obvious. We have trained them to need US to go to sleep. So if they wake, they have no ability to do anything but scream for us. If you haven't done any of it, sleep training is what you need to look at. Trust me. With our first, I didn't have a clue. But when he was 18 months I thought I would lose my mind trying to get him to go to sleep at night. When his little sister came along, we did things differently and the effect was night and day.
I hope I don't sound "preachy".. I just want to help. You need some rest with #2 coming.. and you will need to have this issue with #1 resolved or you will be a wreck with BOTH of them waking during the night.
Putting him into bed still slightly awake (not alert and wide awake, but "dozy" not asleep yet) will help him learn how to go to sleep on his own. Then when he wakes during the night, he can go back to sleep on his own again- without screaming for mommy to rescue him and without mommy having to crawl out of bed to come rock him or whatever.
Good luck.
Blessings on your soon to be born baby girl!

could be teething, could be diet?
has he had anything new introduced into his diet?
have you started whole milk about 2 or 3 months ago? if so, that could very well be the culprit- oftentimes the only sign of a milk protein intolerance (or allergy) is night-wakings...

time for a big boy bed? I would say: NO.

Did he see or watch something scary and wants yo to protect him?

I also have a 13 month old who has been doing the same thing. I got the OK from the pediatrician to give her 3/4 tsp Children's Benedryl before bed to help her sleep. I blame it on teething because they all seem to be coming in at once. I wish she had gone through this at an earlier stage but that is life! Sometimes, I will bring her in my bed and let her fall asleep there and then take her back into her crib to sleep the rest of the night. Hope this helps~

K.,

I went through this with my 2 youngest boys. Sometimes it can be nothing and other times it is anything and everything. I remember many nights that I sat a rocked my little ones and it took a while for them to get past it. Not too long though. There is hope, more than likely it is a combination of things, growing pangs, night terrors, teething and just a little bit of just wanting mommy. If you and your husband can hang in there a little long and just work with him and sit and rock him to make him feel comfortable stick with him. There more he knows that you know will be there for him the more comfortable he will be and the safer he will feel and before you know it he will stop waking up screeming in the middle of the night. This is how I did it with both of my boys.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

S.
35 y/o SAHM of 3 boys
13, 6 and 3

Get some orajel. He's probably getting some molars.

When I was pregnant with #2 I was still waking with #1 every 30-45 mins. When i went to the hosp for the birth my husband slept with my dd. when i got home she was sleeping all night long. why don't you try and have your husband wake up with him and see if that helps. i know that with boys sometimes it's different. my son won't have anything to do with his dad at night and he's 2 1/2. I also had a waking problem with my son. He would wake up screaming sometimes 2-3 times a night once or twice a week. it didn't last long and i contributed it to nightmares. he would calm down when i went in also and i would hold him and put him down and he'd scream all over again. so i would go in once or twice and hold him for a bit and then i would lay him down, if he cried i would let him cry himself to sleep. also is he going down with a bottle? because i just got rid of my sons bottles and he is finally sleeping thru the night most of the time. so i would suggest not doing that or laying him down with a cup instead. it's hard to be a sahm and not want to get up every time they cry, but it'll be better for you in the long run. things change when you have 2 especially that close in age.