It's not just the size of the needle, but the type of needle matter just as much, if not more. I was having similar issues with thread breaks on FMQ and a topstitch needle was suggested to me. I went to my quilt store and compared them and the eye on the topstitch needle is huge compared to a quilting or universal needle of the same size. Take a look at this for a quick compare of the eyes when the size is exactly the same:
https://www.superiorthreads.com/educ...versal-needle/ For FMQ you are putting a lot of stress on the thread where it goes through the needle and a large eye helps a lot.