OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between skipping breakfast, daily energy, macronutrients and food intakes, and BMI in pre-school children. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study using information on children's food consumption and measured height and weight. Energy and macronutrient intakes of the children were derived from parent/day-care attendant's responses to 24 h recall interviews and eating behaviour questionnaires. SETTING: Data obtained from a representative sample (n 2,103) of children born in Quebec (Canada) in 1998. SUBJECTS: One thousand five hundred and forty-nine children, with a mean age of 49 (sd 3.12) months. RESULTS: Ten per cent of children ate breakfast on fewer than 7 days per week. This behaviour was associated with a lower diet quality and concentrated energy intakes through higher protein intakes at lunch and the consumption of snacks higher in energy and carbohydrate in the afternoon and evening; yet total daily energy intakes were not significantly different from those of pre-school children who ate breakfast every day. Breakfast skippers' mean BMI increased as intake of energy, carbohydrates or servings of grain products increased; however, this was not the case for breakfast eaters. When Cole's cut-off for overweight/obesity was used, overweight/obesity in breakfast skippers was related to the dinner-time consumption of approximately 3,000 kJ (700 kcal) or more for energy intake, approximately 100 g or more of carbohydrates, or approximately 3 servings or more of grain products. CONCLUSIONS: Eating breakfast every day is associated with having a healthy body weight, likely due to a more even distribution of energy intake across meals throughout the day.