Can you get someone else to deal with the night wakings so you can get the sleep for your exams, because I don't think you will be able to find a quick & easy fix... anything I can suggest will involve more time than it would take to give a feed.
It can take a few weeks for things to settle down after illness & 8mo is in the difficult 7-9mo frame.
With the feeding, he is probably not going to drop it on his own, try just offering water, he may decide it isn't worth waking for it or otherwise, you pretty much need to go cold turkey on it & do pu/pd to get him back to sleep... for advice on pu/pd, you are best to look at the forum for that, as I have had very little experience with it.
I have weaned from bf at that age (after illness ) & offered water, but it took about a week & still unsettled some nights for at least another week, from memory.
