Sorry for late reply Op. Yes I did start DS on purée vegetables and fruit at 5mo. I was really gutted as I had really thought I wanted to do pure BLW but we really couldn't wait. He was much happier with a bit of food. In his case, I don't really think he was hungry for it as such: it seemed more like a developmental thing. Like he was really ready for a new 'thing' to do, and he wanted to mess about with food!
I started him on the day he turned 5mo with a little bit of puréed sweet potato. He demolished it! So lots of different veg puréed and fruit too over the next few weeks and then when he was 6mo started introducing all sorts of different foods - chicken, mince, pasta, eggs etc.
From about 5.5 months I started introducing finger foods as well as purée: obviously just soft fruit and veg at first, but thn at 6mo just started doing a bit of everything. He could happily eat fingers of toast at 6mo.
In the end w have done a real mixture of spoon feeding him mashed up food and baby food, and finger food too. Now at almost 11 months old he just pretty much eats what Ido for lunch (sandwich, tomatoes, avocado, baby crisps!) and then has our last nights tea re-heated for his dinner (fish pie, meatballs and pasta sauce, sausages and sweet potato chips etc etc).
The thing I wish someone had told me is that you don't necessarily have to pick between purées and baby led weaning and do one or the other as an absolute purist: it is possible to start your baby on purées at 5mo and then move them fairly swiftly into finger foods and 'proper' adult foods when they turn 6mo!! I have both the BLW and Annabel Karmel cook books on my bookshelf and have used both! Get stuck in if you think your Lo is ready, and enjoy it!