restore from an old back up

Dear Potential Helper-

Today our son forgot his passcode, we plugged in his iPod Touch passcode. We plugged it into iTunes and it said "backing up". After that was complete, we rebooted holding down the power and home key until we got the plug into iTunes message. Then restored. The restore did not contain any of his apps or information. I then tried right clicking to restore from back up and tried to restore from the earliest version it offered which turned out to be not far enough into the past.

Needless to say he has none of his old apps and is upset. Would appreciate any wisdom or help.

TIM