The NHS Information Centre data shows more than eight out of 10 newborns are now breastfed at least once after birth, up from six out of 10 in 1990.
Experts said the increase was welcome and partly due to public awareness that "breast is best" for mother and child.
But the figures do not reveal how many mums stick at it for the recommended first six months of a baby's life.
Many women struggle to continue to exclusively breastfeed. And the Royal College of Midwives is concerned that some new mothers are not getting the support they need to encourage breastfeeding.
Spokeswoman Jane Munro criticised the Department of Health in England for axing funding for National Breastfeeding Awareness Week, which runs this week.
"We do not want to see the ground we have gained lost."
She added: "We know that many women stop breastfeeding when they leave hospital.
"This is why it is so important that they are able to get advice and support from their midwife, and that there are enough midwives with the time to offer these women the help they need."
The government said it was committed to training up to an extra 4,200 health visitors by 2015 who would "be able to help support women who want to breastfeed but may find it difficult".
According to the latest figures, breastfeeding rates were higher in England than in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, although rates have risen in most areas.
And the percentage of women who are choosing to smoke either before or during pregnancy has fallen.

Welsh and Indian creative professionals will travel to each other's countries to work together and produce new works including books, music and dance.
The projects will get a share of the £450,000 India Wales Fund.
It is a joint Wales Arts International and British Council scheme which aims to help build relationships between the two countries.
Performances will take place in India and Wales and some of the work will be available online, with artists and audiences in both countries benefiting from workshops, tours and talks.
The projects include:
The full list of selected projects will be announced at the Wales Millennium Centre by Economy Secretary Ken Skates.
He said: "The UK-India Year of Culture 2017 offers an important opportunity for Wales and India to refresh and strengthen these links and also to create new dynamic connections and creative collaborations."
Indian Honorary Consul to Wales, Raj Aggarwal, said: "Wales and India share a love of music, dancing, theatre and literature so this cultural exchange is a fantastic opportunity for each country to share the heritage of each other's performing arts.
"A collaboration of Welsh, English and Bengali writers will bring together the works of six writers with live performance and the publication of a new tri-lingual work.
"This is an amazing opportunity not just to see and enjoy the other country's culture and talent, but to actually work together to create a hybrid from the two that fuse our nation's cultures in the future."
More new mothers are opting to try breastfeeding their babies, latest UK figures reveal.
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Eleven arts projects will get funding to take Welsh culture to India as part of the UK-India 2017 cultural season.