Great points everyone :). I guess when he does use magic directly post-Bae its seems infrequent and for little trifling things…like wardrobe. He also only uses “please” on Regina sparingly as well.
I’m also thinking Rumple initially used his magic directly to free all the children from the Ogre’s war and wonder if by using it to free ALL the children, the price of that magic was actually to “lose” his own child. So when he became aware of the “price” of that magic he was very careful. And yes, the fact that he never wants to break a deal and always keeps his end of the bargain definitely was caused by what happened with Bae.
And for turning Gaston into a Rose…maybe the price of that magic is how he lost Belle in FTL and how he was made to believe Belle was dead for so long when she wasn’t.