Congrats on the new little one on the way - how exciting! So, I come from the camp of "be careful, but not too cautious". Children get bumps and bruises, scratches and boo-boos...it's part of them growing up. You want to put them in a bubble and keep anything bad from every happening to them. Alas, I'm not sure that makes them well equipped to handle the world then. So, be careful...but not too much...what a tough balancing act. But, I digress. Also, something that I'm always reminded of is people wanting to save something "for good". My grandmother did that - they were of very modest means, so when she got something new, she always put it aside to save it for "something special". Well, there are plates that are in the china cupboard to this day that were never used because they might get scratched or chipped, so they should only be used for extra special company. Who is any more special than your very own day-to-day family, really? So, enjoy that gorgeous table. Embrace the dings, scratches, and dents that will come along with having use...remember what those come from...those are the things of memories...they are the things that you will reminisce about when your little one(s) are grown and gone. You will learn to see that dent and remember the day that your little boy (or girl) decided to ride his tricycle in the house and banged into the table leg and dented it, cried because he fell off and bumped his head...and stopped crying because you kissed away the hurt (that DOES work, you know!) And you will grow to love those dents (or at least the stories that go with them) more and more and more as the years fly by.

I would call your local mirror and glass company. Sometimes the weight of the glass is all that keeps them in place (it would be shatterproof glass for safety). We have also used silicone iirc on outdoor tables. The bigger issue may be what the base looks like when you remove the top; if it was not designed to be on display it may need finishing, or may be too crude to look attractive.

You could do a glass top with some spacers, between the glass and leather, so the leather can breathe. I'm in a high cost of living area and just had 3 glass tops made, using the more expensive low iron starfire glass (no green tint) and I didn't think it was a bad price, considering it will protect the furniture for a long time. The tops were 21" x 64", 20" x 23" and 20" x 25. I paid $259 without tax. I think the regular glass would have been about half the price.

i suppose then it depends on the thickness and weight of the glass. ours is on a double dresser, where i put on sunscreen and where icy drinks are often set, on the way to the deck off of our master bedroom. so the glass is rather large, no way it would slither off. yes, you can see the discs. but the glass guy made a good effort for them to be symmetrical, so thats something. here's something tho..... if a drink is left on for a while, there is actually condensation under the glass surface. it goes away again but its enough that i have to make sure a drink isnt abandoned there, or i'd end up with condensate dripping on my dresser where i cant even get to it to wipe it up! still better than sunscreen drips, tho.