new night waking - mom vs dad response

My 8m old DS who was previously STTN for months is now waking about 1x per night crying. It's a cry that's not to be ignored. If DH goes in, he's settled and back in bed within minutes and sleeps till morning. If I go in it's a totally different story. I will do the exact same thing as hubby to soothe but DS does not settle in my arms he just gets more and more awake. He'd be perfectly content to just stay in my arms and play with my nose if I let him.  If I lay him in his crib awake (which is not new for us) he gets very upset. If he doesn't, I will leave him be but eventually he cries out again for me. This will go on and on for hours…I've ruled out diaper, temperature, teething etc… I've even nursed him and even THAT doesn't put him to sleep…eventually he gets tired enough to go back to sleep but he's up for a long time.  I've been experimenting for over a week now and am worried about creating new bad habits at this age.  DH is awesome, and would happily go do it every single night but I do not have that option as he is a shift worker and works nights sometimes…   I just don't get it. DH needs 4 minutes and I need HOURS.