Both BIBS and Hevea are Scandinavian baby brands with serious credibility. Both use natural rubber latex. Both have loyal followings. But when you put them side by side on materials, construction, and environmental impact, they are not the same product — and the differences matter more than most product pages will tell you.
Here's what we found.
The Brands at a Glance
BIBS is a Danish brand founded in 1978. They're one of the most recognisable dummy brands in the world, known for their round shield silhouette and wide colour range. They manufacture in Europe and sell in over 50 countries.
Hevea is also Danish, founded in 2008 with a specific brief: create a dummy made entirely from natural materials, with no plastics and no synthetics anywhere in the product. Their name comes directly from Hevea brasiliensis — the rubber tree their products are made from.
Different starting points. Very different outcomes.
Material: Where They Actually Diverge
This is the most important section, and the one most comparison articles skip over.
Both brands use natural rubber latex for the nipple. Natural rubber is tapped from the Hevea brasiliensis tree, minimally processed, and shaped. It's soft, flexible, and one of the most studied materials in baby products. On the nipple, BIBS and Hevea are comparable.
The shield is where they part ways entirely.
BIBS shields are made from 100% Polypropylene — PP plastic. It's food-safe, BPA-free, and widely used in baby products. It's also unambiguously a plastic, and it will not biodegrade.
Hevea shields are made from the same 100% natural rubber as the nipple. Not a different grade. Not a harder formulation. The same material, moulded as one continuous piece from nipple tip to shield edge.
If you're buying natural rubber to avoid plastic contact, the shield is the part that matters most — it's the part that presses against your baby's face for hours at a time.
Construction: One Piece vs. Multi-Piece
BIBS dummies are assembled: a latex or silicone nipple fitted into a separate PP shield. The join between those two parts is a potential accumulation point for milk residue, bacteria, and moisture — even after sterilisation.
Hevea dummies are moulded as a single continuous piece. There are no joins, no seams, no separate components. Sterilisation reaches every surface because there's only one surface.
From a hygiene standpoint, one-piece construction has a genuine practical advantage — not just a marketing one.
Biodegradability: The Full Picture
BIBS markets their natural rubber range as a more eco-conscious choice — and on the nipple, that's fair. Natural rubber does biodegrade.
But a BIBS dummy has two parts. The nipple biodegrades. The polypropylene shield does not. It will persist in landfill for several hundred years.
A Hevea dummy is fully biodegradable. Every part of it — nipple, shield, the whole piece — returns to the earth. Hevea also runs an upcycle program where old dummies are collected and processed rather than landfilled.
If reducing plastic waste is part of why you're choosing natural rubber, the whole product needs to be natural rubber.
The Side-by-Side
| BIBS | Hevea | |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Denmark | Denmark |
| Nipple material | Natural rubber latex or silicone | 100% natural rubber |
| Shield material | Polypropylene (PP) — plastic | 100% natural rubber |
| BPA-free | ✓ | ✓ |
| Plastic-free (entire product) | ✗ | ✓ |
| PP / polypropylene | Present (shield) | None |
| Silicone option | ✓ (some ranges) | ✗ |
| One-piece construction | ✗ | ✓ |
| Fully biodegradable | ✗ (shield is plastic) | ✓ |
| Upcycle program | ✗ | ✓ |
| Australian safety certified | EN 1400 (European) | AS 2432 (Australian) |
| Plastic-free packaging | Varies by range | ✓ |
| Colour range | Extensive (~50 colours) | Minimal |
| Price point | Mid | Mid–Premium |
Australian Safety Standards: A Note Worth Making
BIBS dummies are certified to EN 1400+A2 — the European pacifier standard. It's a rigorous standard and widely respected globally.
Hevea dummies are certified to AS 2432 — the Australian Standard for pacifiers. This is the specific benchmark that Australian product safety regulations are built around.
For Australian parents, AS 2432 certification means the product has been assessed against the exact standard your local consumer protection framework references. That's not a knock on EN 1400 — it's just worth knowing which standard applies where you live.
Where BIBS Has the Advantage
An honest comparison means saying this plainly: BIBS wins on variety. Nearly 50 colours, multiple shield shapes, multiple nipple shapes (round, anatomical, symmetrical), and a huge range of accessories that coordinate with the dummy range. If aesthetic choice and range depth matter to you, BIBS delivers in ways Hevea doesn't try to match.
BIBS also has a 40-year track record, which counts for something. They're not a new brand making promises — they're an established manufacturer with a long history of safety testing.
Where Hevea Has the Advantage
If your criteria are: no plastic anywhere, no PP, no silicone, one material from end to end, fully biodegradable, and certified to the Australian standard — Hevea is the only dummy that meets all of them simultaneously.
It's also the only dummy where the part touching your baby's face is the same material as the part going in their mouth.
The Honest Conclusion
BIBS is a genuinely good product. It's safe, well-made, and the natural rubber nipple versions offer many of the same sensory benefits as Hevea. If colour variety is important and a plastic shield doesn't concern you, BIBS is a reasonable choice.
Hevea is for parents who've already decided that "natural rubber" means the whole product — not just the nipple. No plastic shield. No joins. No PP. Fully biodegradable from tip to edge. Certified to the Australian standard, not the European one.
The difference isn't BIBS versus Hevea. The difference is what "natural" means to you.
