Mum Friends
Who wants to talk about babies?  Mums!  Nothing is more fun, relaxing and reassuring than having a good friend who understands. To find other new mums in Glasgow, try:

Your health visitor.  Health visitors are often happy to arrange for new mums to meet each other.  Your health visitor might even arrange weekly meetings for groups of new mums whose babies were born recently.  If not, she might think to do it because you've asked.  After all, if you're trading tips with other mums you might stop asking her so many questions!

Antenatal classes.  Glasgow's hospitals run weekly classes for pregnant women, which usually last for a month.  At some antenatal classes, socializing is encouraged, but at others it's discouraged.  For a more social antenatal class, try booking a six-week course through the National Childbirth Trust.  Be sure to book early, however, as the classes fill up quickly.  (See the item below for the NCT website.)

National Childbirth Trust.  In addition to antenatal classes, the NCT also hosts Early Days classes for new parents.  At these weekly classes, a group leader gives advice and encourages new parents to share their experiences with other new parents in the area.  You can find groups near you on this website:
National Childbirth Trust website

Mumsnet.  The Times calls this website 'the country's most popular meeting point for parents.'  You need to 'join' the site by giving a few contact details, but joining is free.  Once you've joined, you can find other mums and baby-related events on the site:
Mumsnet website

Playgroups.  You can also find other mums at one of the weekly playgroups in your area.  See our page on playgroups.

Babysitting Circles
If you live round the corner from your mum and your godmother, then you probably already have enough babysitters.  If you don't, however, you might want to create a babysitting circle.  The beauty of this idea is that you already know and trust your babysitters, and no money is involved.  Here's how it works:

Form a group of trusted friends who are parents and who know your child.  You might want to host some social gatherings for the group so that everyone, including the children, knows, likes and trusts everyone else.

Give each member of the group an equal number (8-12) of 'tokens'.  Each token will represent an hour of babysitting.  For tokens, use something inexpensive but distinctive -- paper flowers, large buttons, fridge magnets, etc.

Give each member of the group a list with contact details for all members of the group, plus any information that a babysitter should know (child's doctor, food allergies, pets, etc.)

When a member of the group babysits for another member, she receives one token per hour of babysitting (e.g. a member who babysits for 4 hours receives 4 tokens, etc.)  If someone uses up her tokens, then she'll need to babysit in order to regain tokens.