I got a chance to try one out at a museum when I was a kid. Doubtlessly a replica, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t quite comfortable - even sans cushioning of any sort. You rest on your back and place it at the base of the skull/top of the neck.
I’ve thought of asking a similar question here . . . maybe I’ll just piggyback onto this Thread:
Why don’t infants need pillows?
How do you know when to start providing your baby with a pillow?
Easy - they will ask for one.
We need pillows for sleeping for:
A. Comfort
B. It is easier for us to sleep with a raised head, and pillows generally serve that purpose.
Infants have straight spines, and so don’t need a curved sleeping surface to be comfortable (which is essentially what pillows and other head/neck supports provide). When they start walking upright, their spine will slowly begin to assume the normal human curvature. By the time they’re spending most of their day upright, you can offer them a pillow - some will use it and some won’t. By first or second grade (7 or 8 years old) most kids want a pillow.
Or a head.
mmm
Our cats like to sleep with their head cocked up on a ‘pillow’, not always but much of the time. Dogs will put their heads on their paws.