well, it depends if you are worried about allergies or not. have a look at the allergy schedules if you are, and if not then i'd probably wait til the 6 months stage. mind you i waited for ages to try citrus with babybear because i know someone with a citrus allergy and it's not pretty. why did your friend say 5 months was the time to start? it's not wrong, per se, because it's BLW, but it's odd advice as technically it conflicts with the WHO guidelines.