You hit it on the head, Lorry.  In Norway this is a well known phenomenon,
as mothers often start cereals by mixing them with expressed milk.  If the
milk has not been heated to above the temperature tolerated by amylase, you
mix a bowl of cereal, get the baby settled in a chair or your lap, and oops!
You have gruel in the bowl!  You can keep adding cereal powder and it keeps
happening until you totally use up the amylase.  The amylase is breaking
down starch in the cereal to sugar and water.  If you taste it, it is very
sweet.  It is also far more concentrated than the baby needs.
We tried for a time to get the cereal manufacturer to put info on the
package about this, but their stated reason for declining was they didn't
want to imply in any way that breast milk was not a perfect food in its
unprocessed form.  Admirable if true, but they also can sell a lot more
cereal by not telling mothers how to get the right consistency.
I'm sorry, I don't remember the exact temp. to deactivate amylase.  See
Riordan and Auerbach on human milk banking, it's in there.
Rachel Myr
Norway

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