I (27F) My fiancé(29M)’s Ex(30F) still calls him ‘Babe’. Am I overreacting?

Me(27F) And my fiancé(27M), together 4 years, engaged 6months. His ex(30F) was with him for 5 years before they split.

I never thought I’d be the kind of person to feel weird about something like this, but here I am, questioning myself. I’ve always believed in trust, and I genuinely don’t have issue with my fiancé staying friend with his ex. But the fact that she still calls him babe? That’s been bothering me way more than expected.

For some context, my fiancé and his ex were together for about 5 years before breaking up. It wasn’t a dramatic split, just one of these as a better friends situations. They stayed in touch, which never really concerned me. He told me early on in our relationship that they still talk occasionally, and I appreciated his honesty. I even met her once at a mutual friend’s event, she was nice.

A few weeks ago though I overhead a phone call between them. He was on speaker while getting something from kitchen, and their conversation seemed casual , catching up about work, life, etc. But then she laughed and said something like, Oh, you always do that babe! just like that my stomach flipped,.

I didn’t say anything right away because I didn’t want to react emotionally. But later that night, i bought it up, trying to be as calm as possible. I said, Hey, i noticed she called you babe on the phone today Is that normal? He kindly said that, Yeah she’s always called me that. It doesn’t mean anything. I asked if he thought it was a little weird now that he’s engaged and he said, I don’t really think about that. its just a habit.

And thats where i stuck to him. to me it feels off. I trust him completely, and i dont think tere’s anything shady going on. But i also feel like there should be a natural shift in boundaries when you’re engaged to someone else. Would she call him that in front of me? Would she still do it if i wasn’t in the picture? And why he hasn’t ever thought to tell her, maybe let’s retire the pet names i am engaged now.

I don’t want to be controlling or come across as insecure, but i also don’t think I’m being unreasonable. Its’s not even about the word babe itself, it’s all about the familiarity it implies. If the roles were reversed than i think he’d find it weird too.

So,do i bring it up again and ask him to set boundaries? or do i let it go and trust that it really just a habit/ I don’t even want to turn this into a bigger deal than it is, but i don’t want to ignore something that genuinely bothers me.

TL;DR: My fiance’s ex still calls him babe, and he says it’s just habit. It makes me uncomfortable, but I don’t want to overreact. Should I ask him to set a boundary, or am I making something out of nothing.